


Monsters

by ShadowedByVultures (ThisPolarNoise)



Series: Monsters 'verse [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 2013 era fanon, Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Torture, canon divergence after IM3, some graphic violence towards the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-22
Updated: 2013-08-22
Packaged: 2019-03-14 12:02:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 37,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13589652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisPolarNoise/pseuds/ShadowedByVultures
Summary: Almost a year after the events of Manhattan, Tony and Bruce find Loki barely alive outside the Tower. As he recovers, Loki realises he and Doctor Banner aren't that different...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net between the 22nd August 2013 and the 9th November 2014 under the pseudonym This Polar Noise.  
> Posting here for posterity, unedited from its original form, because the original was deleted to make way for the as-yet-unfinished rewrite which I'll probably post when done. I know it has many, MANY faults but like.... yeah. This is essentially the first draft.  
> Original author's notes have been discarded because they were basically just me making excuses as to why the chapter was late, haha.

He was on Midgard again. That much was obvious from the stars and the buildings he could see despite his badly blurred vision.

Loki took shallow, shaking breaths through his nose, feeling blood running down his throat but unable to spit it out.

They'd laughed at him, chained down there, dying after almost a year of imprisonment and starvation. The Aesir, even the ones who'd once pretended to like him, had inflicted fresh excruciations. The people he'd once considered family had looked on impassively, letting them torture him. He was glad that Thor hadn't been there to watch. His brother, while reckless, would never be able to live with himself.

Then they'd left him here, of all places, where his descent into madness had taken him first time. The island of Manhattan, this time a street corner instead of a tower. He could still see that god-forsaken building directly above him. They'd delivered him right back into the hands of his enemies. He rolled over slightly in an attempt to sit up and groaned quietly through his stitched-up lips, more blood dripping from his lips into his throat as his mouth tried to open against the thick wires. The punishment for liars. The Allfather hadn't so much as blinked when he heard the suggestion for the torture.

Loki wanted to go home. He didn't know where home was any more but he knew he needed to be there. He was an outcast from everywhere he'd ever been. He'd been tortured on Asgard, become nothing better than a murderer on Midgard and he dreaded to think of what would happen if he ever went anywhere near Jotunheim again. He had nowhere to go and no-one to go with. He was completely alone and about to die on a strange planet where no-one would mourn him for the second time in several short years. But this time there would be no Thanos in his mind, controlling his pitiful thoughts and threatening him with even more pain.

Somewhere down the street, a light, shone out from the otherwise dark bottom floors of the building and a figure walked out through the strange sliding doors that seemed to be all over Midgard.

The figure walked towards a Midgardian vehicle parked near Loki and continued a conversation on one of the devices the mortals seemed so fond of.

It was Stark. Loki cowered back but the Man of Iron didn't seem to notice him.

"All I'm saying is that maybe if he stopped  _ acting _ like a pirate, maybe I'd stop comparing him to one... Yeah but you know Fury... Yeah... I still say get him the hat and the rum... No, you were right, the cutlass is a bad idea, I don't have a death wish... Fine, I'll get it myself." He shook his head then took some keys out of his pocket.

Loki tried to shuffle back further but groaned quietly again. Stark span round, looking straight at him.

"Jesus Christ... Bruce, get down here!"

Stark walked over to him cautiously. When Loki didn't move, Stark crouched down next to him.

"Jesus..." He repeated. "What the hell happened to you, Reindeer Games?"

Loki looked up at him with an expression like an animal caught in the headlights and tried to move away again.

Stark reached out to touch Loki's forehead then flinched away.

"Shit!" He cursed, shaking feeling back into his frozen hand painfully.

Loki's eyes shut tightly. He was in his Jotun form. Why did this have to happen now? If he hadn't been as good as dead before, he would be now the Man of Iron knew he was a monster. He closed his eyes tightly and let the darkness take him again, not wanting to be awake for his own end.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony was still crouched down next to the unconscious demigod when Bruce came down from the Tower.

"Hey, Tony wha..." He stopped mid-sentence. "What the...?"

"Yeah." Tony said quietly.

"That's... That's... Shit, Tony why is he here?"

"I guess he got banished like Thor."

Bruce stared down at Loki. "You  _ guess _ ?"

"He couldn't come here on his own, not looking like that."

"How are you so calm about this? What are we going to do? Call Fury?"

"God no."

"Tony, that psychopath tried to destroy Manhattan and take over Earth."

"And?"

Bruce stared at him in disbelief.

"He's been tortured enough, Bruce." Tony said quietly. Before Afghanistan, before all of this, Tony had produced weapons, he'd designed implements that had been used for torture. After his time in that cave, he'd decided he wouldn't let  _ anyone _ go through what had happened to him. "Stark Industries have been working on new medical technology. We should have enough in the Tower to keep him alive."

Bruce scratched his head awkwardly. "What about Clint and Natasha? They're still SHIELD agents. They'll kill him on sight."

"We're geniuses. We'll think of something." Tony shrugged, leaning down to pick up Loki's legs.

Bruce couldn't help but smile slightly at Tony's remark and started to reach for the demigod's shoulders.

"Don't touch his skin, he's put some kind of magic on himself." Tony said quickly before Bruce could touch Loki's pale blue skin.

"Why would he do that?"

"Have you seen the guy? Probably to stop them cutting him up worse."

Bruce nodded and picked up the demigod by his torn cloak, covered in barely-dried blood like the rest of his clothes.

"Shit, Tony." Bruce repeated, muttering this time, as they half dragged Loki into the thankfully-empty lobby of the Avengers' Tower.

Tony just raised his eyebrows in response, walking backwards towards the elevator. When the three of them were inside, Tony pressed a series of buttons on the panel then stood back again.

"What if someone wants to get in?"

"The only people working at this time are security and a couple of the guys in R&D and they won't be finished for hours. No-one except me ever leaves the tower at this time, only for missions."

Bruce nodded. "Won't security see this and want to know what's going on here?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "The guys who work here have seen enough of me not to ask."

Bruce tried to think of a suitable response to that but gave up and asked another question. "What about SHIELD?"

"JARVIS sends them a fake feed when he knows I'm doing something suspicious. Their tech guys really aren't as intelligent as they think they are."

"You've thought of everything." Bruce commented.

"Someone has to." Tony smirked. The smirk quickly fell away as he

looked back down at Loki. "We've both heard Thor go on about Odin. Why would he do this?"

"Tony, this guy tried to take over a planet and kill everyone on it. What would you have done?"

"Not this." Tony said quietly, shaking his head.

The elevator stopped and Tony leant out and glanced around.

"All clear." He said quietly, as if expecting someone to appear from the darkness of the corridor. Bruce hadn't been to this part of the Tower before, preferring to stay away from most of the Stark Industries employees and work on his own projects. It was slightly scary being in almost complete darkness in an unfamiliar place but Tony didn't notice his discomfort.

Tony shifted his grip on Loki's legs and walked towards a room at the end with a heavy lock on the door.

"JARVIS, door and lights!" Tony yelled, not looking up as the door swung open.

They carefully lifted the demigod onto a steel table in the centre of the room. Various pieces of equipment hung from the ceiling, like a scene from some kind of weird horror movie.

Bruce looked around in awe. "What is all this?"

"X-rays, MRI, couple of new gadgets Stark Industries has been working on."

"Impressive." Bruce said, following Tony to the booth at the other side of the room. "Does it all work?"

"Should do." Tony said, quickly bringing up various files on the screens that filled most of the tiny room not containing controls for the equipment.

"JARVIS, start with the scans then go on to blood tests."

"Yes sir." The AI's voice echoed.

Several pieces of equipment descended from the mass on ceiling and lights flashed around Loki's unmoving form. Bruce watched curiously but Tony was completely focused on the screens and results.

"It would appear, Sir, that Loki is not in fact Aesir. This skin is his true colour, not a spell." JARVIS said after several minutes of scanning and analysis.

Tony's head snapped away from trying to decipher the screen to look at Loki. "What?"

"Thor said he was adopted." Bruce added thoughtfully. "He never said  _ where from _ ."

"Exactly, Doctor Banner."

"But can we still help him?" Tony said quickly.

"There is nothing in the Stark Industries database about his species. Relatively little can be determined from the scans due to his skin."

Tony nodded and picked up his tablet. Bruce gave him a look of warning.

"That's not a good idea, Tony, the last time you did something like this..."

"The last time I was bored, no-one's life depended on it." Tony smirked slightly, remembering the last time he'd hacked into SHIELD's computers and changed the entire system from the usual boring shield grey to bright red and gold. "And anyway, they were supposed to see that."

Tony typed in various lines of code and passwords rapidly. He found the file quickly and brought it up on the screens in front of them.

' _ Loki Odinsson _ ' the file read. ' _ Species: Frost Giant (Jotun) [raised as Aesir] _

_ Planet of Origin: Jotunheim [Asgard] _

_ Capture Status: Incarcerated in Asgardian prison _ '

Well, that last part was crap at least. Tony flicked through several long pages of the events in the desert and in Manhattan on the tablet until he reached ' _ Wanted Status: Preferred dead _ '.

Typical Fury. He scrolled back to the top of the document and tapped the link to 'Frost Giants'.

"JARVIS, transfer all data on Frost Giants." He said out loud, hoping to god that there was enough information in there to save Loki's life.

"Files transferred successfully Sir."

"Better get on with it then," Tony said, turning to Bruce. "We don't have all night."


	3. Chapter 3

Bruce's hands were covered in burns from the demigod's frozen skin by the time he and Tony had given up trying to stitch the worst of the cuts covering Loki. It was worrying how little they'd been able to do for him. Tony had been sensible for once and decided to try waiting until the demigod had woken up. There was no point injuring themselves in an attempt to save a man who would probably try to kill them the second he was awake.

They'd moved Loki to an empty room that Tony refused to explain the uses of on the floor of the Tower he used as his workshop. It was made of a pure white material that Bruce didn't recognise and had a door that was completely invisible from the inside until it was opened, perfect to stop a prisoner from escaping.

"We can't tell Thor about him, you know, at least not yet anyway." Bruce said finally, leaning against the wall but not taking his eyes off the Frost Giant's unmoving form.

"Why? We know he didn't have anything to do with this."

"Really?"

"He's been at his 'Lady Jane's' place down in New Mexico for three weeks," Tony said, rolling his eyes at the Thunder God's pet name for his girlfriend. "And you saw the way he defended Loki, even just before the battle."

Bruce nodded. "But he's probably better off not knowing for now. Can you imagine what'd happen if Odin found out?"

Tony grimaced. "Good point."

"And we don't know what he'll try to do when he wakes up." Bruce scratched his head thoughtfully. "Last time you could tell he was crazy just by looking at him. It might just be because he's asleep but I'm not so sure about now."

Tony nodded. "He was awake for a few seconds when I found him. Definitely didn't seem like the same Rock Of Ages we were fighting last year."

"You don't know much about Norse mythology, do you? He was the god of mischief and _lying_. " Bruce said quietly. "And everyone is different when they're begging for their life."

Tony shook his head. "His lips are stitched together. He wasn't speaking. It was his eyes, Bruce."

"We still can't trust him, not yet."

"I know that. I'm not stupid."

"I don't want SHIELD to get him either." Bruce sighed, looking away from Loki and down at his own feet. "I know what they do to people but we can't do anything for him, not till he wakes up."

"Don't know about you but I'm going I get Fury's birthday present. One of us has to have a sense of humour round here." Tony smirked.

"I'll stay around here for a while, see if he wakes up."

Tony nodded, pulling on his jacket and walking out into the workshop.

"JARVIS, keep an eye on Loki." He said quietly. He didn't want the bastard to start on Bruce if he woke up. It was unlikely he would even wake up and it was even less likely that if he did, he'd even be able to hurt Bruce or The Other Guy. Tony knew he'd become more than slightly paranoid since his home was blown up by that bastard Killian but it never hurt to be cautious, especially not around guys like this.

 

-

 

Loki's eyes opened slowly as he tried to stay asleep. Waking up meant being in pain, whether it be from injuries already sustained or whatever fresh persecution the two Avengers had planned for him.

He tried to curl his body up smaller but his limbs were restrained. He let his eyes open and bright lights almost blinded him. He felt his heartbeat quicken and heard something nearby mocking the sound of his pulse. Loki pulled against the chains around his wrists.

"Mr Stark has been informed you are awake, Mr Odinsson. Please refrain from struggling." A voice echoed from somewhere in the room.

Loki's head shot round, looking for anyone the voice could have come from but the room was completely empty. There were no windows and not even any sign of a door. The walls were a blank, dull white and the only furnishings others than the bed he was tied to were two chairs at the side of him, a small table and the Midgardian light sources on the ceiling.

Part of the wall slid away and Stark walked into the room.

"Morning." He said, not bothering with one of the ridiculous nicknames he'd used in the past.

Loki just looked at Stark with that same cornered-animal expression he'd given him before he'd fainted last time.

"Don't know why I'm bothering with small talk, your mouth's still wired. If you could turn back into the normal overly-pale god guy instead of the freezing blue Frost-Giant guy I can sort it out."

That's just what they'd want, to make him go back to his most vulnerable form.

"Or don't. Just don't get pissed at me and Bruce when your lips heal together."

That had the desired effect. Loki's red eyes widened with fear and slowly his skin turned white again. Stark took a strange looking piece of metal from his pocket and flicked a knife out of it. Loki flinched from the blade.

"Jesus..." Stark muttered. He held Loki's head back against the pillow with one hand and the demigod's eyes pleaded with him for some kind of mercy. He didn't want to die any more, not now.

Stark sighed and carefully started to saw through the strong wire holding his lips together. He pulled out the small, bloody pieces of wire. Loki opened his mouth experimentally and took a shallow, careful breath then coughed out the blood that had clogged his throat. He inhaled deeply, wincing slightly as the cool air whistled through the holes just outside his lips.

"Thank you, Stark." He whispered shakily.

Stark shrugged, examining the thick pieces of wire in his hands, an expression of pure revulsion on his face.

"Who the hell did you piss off?" Stark said quietly.

"Everyone." Loki murmured.

Loki expected Stark to flash his usual smirk but instead he just nodded slowly. The demigod flinched slightly; somehow understanding was worse than mockery. At least with taunts he knew where he stood. With empathy, anything could happen.

Stark turned away and started to leave the room without another word, leaving Loki chained to the bed. Loki stared after him.

The nerves hit now. He was scared, genuinely terrified. How long would it be before Barton or Romanov came to the room. They would kill him or worse the second they heard he was here.

Wait... Could Stark and Banner not have told anyone else yet? He'd thought it himself seconds ago, he'd be dead if the other Avengers knew of his presence.

That didn't mean they wouldn't now he was awake enough to suffer. Loki shivered painfully. He couldn't escape. He was a dead man.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony opened the door to the room again.

He practically dragged Bruce into the sterile medical room. The physicist looked at Loki analytically, eyes quickly scanning over the demigod's wounds.

"He probably needs surgery, Tony, neither of us are qualified to do that."

Tony sat on the edge of the bed, opening a case that contained several needles and medical thread, a few hypodermic needles and a couple of bottles of some kind of clear liquid that Bruce couldn't see the labels on.

Tony seemed completely oblivious to the demigod's obvious terror. "I can do some stuff, I had to learn a few things when first started being Iron Man and you worked as a doctor in  _ Calcutta _ . He can't be the worst thing you've seen." Tony paused then added. "And he's probably too weak to do magic but I don't want to find out. As long as he's outnumbered he might not attack."

"He doesn't look like he could attack anyone." Bruce said quietly, looking pointedly at Loki's bruised, bloody face. He was a lot thinner than he had been almost a year ago, his translucent skin seeming to be the only thing covering his feeble bones. Most of the skin visible under his more than slightly ridiculous Asgardian armour was covered in cuts, burns and deep purple bruises which hadn't shown up as much on his Jotun skin.

Tony shrugged, leaning over Loki and removing the restraints. Loki was obviously having to make a conscious effort not to flinch away from him.

"We're not going to hurt you." Bruce said, walking round to the other side of the bed, trying not to betray his own fear. "At least not any worse."

Loki gave a weaker version of the smirk Bruce had seen him use before. "You honestly expect me to believe those lies?"

"What other choice d'you have?" Tony said.

Loki looked away silently.

Tony quickly gave a smirk of his own then turned back to Bruce. "We need to at least get his armour off, that stuff's not helping."

Loki nodded despite the fact that the statement wasn't spoken to him and tried to sit up. Tony had been right about it 'not helping'; the metal was heavy and the weakened demigod fell back. Bruce caught him before his head could hit the metal end of the bed, supporting his pale shoulders as Tony unbuckled the leather straps attaching Loki's armour above his clothes. The billionaire found it hard to believe a guy who'd picked him up and thrown him out of a window could now be weak enough not to even be able to sit up on his own but Tony also remembered the bad shape he'd been in after only a few weeks in the cave. Loki had been fucked with worse and for longer.

Bruce could feel the demigod shaking in his grip as Tony pulled off his final pieces of armour, the plates on his shoulders attached to his green cape. He was wearing a plain green tunic under the armour, probably pretty standard clothes for Aesir who weren't princes or fighting wars.

Loki tried to take it off but froze when his arms reached above his head, letting out a quiet hiss of pain. Bruce pulled the shirt over his head and arms and saw the tears forming in the corners of the demigod's eyes. Bruce looked at Loki, wondering what could have changed him from the over confident mastermind to the wreck in front of him. His eyes strayed down to Loki's back. The skin was a mass of deep, oozing cuts, barely any flesh left undamaged.

"Oh god..." Bruce said quietly, unable to take his eyes away. "What the hell did they do?"

"I was whipped." Loki whispered. "It is not an unusual punishment."

"Maybe not on Asgard." Bruce said, his face paling. "Tony, half of this looks infected. We need to take him to a hospital or something."

"Yeah, 'cause taking the guy who tried to kill everyone to a regular hospital'll make us really popular." Tony spoke as confidently as usual but Bruce saw a flash of doubt on his face. He knew he was right, even if for once he didn't want to be.

"JARVIS, bring up the files on Frost Giants and Aesir." Bruce said to the room at large, still feeling slightly sheepish about talking to the AI.

"Yes, Doctor Banner." The English-accented voice replied.

Projections of the documents Tony had been studying earlier were projected onto one wall and Bruce quickly skimmed through both of them then took the first aid kit from Tony, examining the contents of each of the small bottles in the case for antibiotics. He filled one of the hypodermic needles from the correct bottle and turned back to look at Loki.

"I'm not going to say this won't hurt," He said quietly. "But it'll probably stop you from dying, at least for now."

Loki nodded slightly. He looked away as Bruce wiped the skin at the top of his arm with disinfectant but didn't so much as flinch as the needle sank into his flesh. That wasn't really a surprise, he'd obviously had to endure far worse. He flinched when Bruce's hand brushed against his back when the physicist was starting to clean the cuts but not as the warm water dripped into the wounds. Loki was scared. Bruce wasn't sure how to react to the complete change in character he'd had since the last time they'd met. The demigod was damaged, broken. He was in a state not that much different to the way Bruce had been around other people until fairly recently (Bruce had discovered the hard way that you couldn't stay scared of physical contact for long when you worked with Tony every day), although Loki didn't hide it as well.

He was quiet for the rest of the time Bruce and Tony were cleaning and either stitching or covering his numerous injuries. The fingernails were missing from his hands and most of the fingers were broken on his left. Loki had been cut, burnt and broken and whoever had been inflicting the damage hasn't wanted him to get off lightly.

Knowing how hard it was to harm Asgardians didn't exactly make this any easier. If Odin found out that either Tony or Bruce was involved he could make life very difficult for them, not to mention brief, but neither of them said a word about that, just continued to try to fix the wounds of the young god.

When they'd finally finished, neither of them particularly wanted to leave Loki on his own but they didn't want to be alone in the same room as a man who was most likely lying to them either.

"JARVIS can keep an eye on him." Tony muttered, trying to keep the information from Loki.

Bruce nodded reluctantly. "Probably."

"Could sound more confident. When have I ever let you down?" He said with a smirk.

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, point taken. When has JARVIS ever let you down?"

"Never."

"Then he'll be fine."


	5. Chapter 5

Loki awoke from another nightmare, feverish and gasping for air. It took a few moments for him to realise where he had fallen into that short, fitful sleep and that he was still there in the now darkened room of Stark Tower on Midgard, not the cell that he had languished in for a year. He evened out his breathing gradually, taking slow, deep breaths despite the protests from his cracked and broken ribs and rubbed his eyes with a shaking, bandaged hand. His whole body was stinging from the wounds the Asgardians had inflicted on him, despite the fact that the worst had been stitched up by Stark and Banner. It had taken them over an hour to clean and stitch his worthless body but even Stark had displayed some small amount of patience with helping him which was far more than what Loki knew he deserved. That's why they were the heroes, Loki supposed. That was what had made  _ him _ the villain.

He let himself lay awake but tried not to think in any more detail about his crimes and not daring to close his eyes again, even for a second. If he fell asleep, he'd have more of those terrible dreams and he would end up in the same state of terror he'd just banished.

Eventually he looked around nervously.

"JARVIS?"

A blue light flashed on at the other side of the room.

"Good morning, Mr Odinsson." A voice with an accent not dissimilar to his own said from somewhere around him. Loki still wasn't quite sure what to make of the voice but he knew that Stark seemed to act like it was a person. Maybe there was a man behind the lights and voice, he wasn't sure. Loki didn't bother to correct the voice about his name. He had no father so he was unsure of what to correct it  _ to _ . He'd decided almost the second he had discovered his true parentage that he could never be Laufeyson.

"I will wake Doctor Banner." JARVIS's voice said when Loki didn't ask anything of him.

"Thank you." Loki said gratefully. After so long in seclusion, he was craving the company of someone who wasn't about to torture him. It wasn't as if being alone bothered him  _ that _ much, it never had, and he was still far from trusting the heroes but they were certainly preferable to his previous situation.

The lights turned on as the door opened.

Loki blinked slowly and turned.

Banner was stood in the doorway with a tray of food in his hands.

"Morning."

"Good morning, Doctor Banner." He said softly, trying to sit up.

Banner carefully placed the tray on the table next to the bed and put a hand on Loki's pale arm. Loki's first instinct was to flinch away but realised that the physicist was trying to help him.

"Thank you."

"Brought you something to eat," Banner said, gesturing at the tray ten placing it on the bed next to Loki. "Thought it was better I did than Tony."

Loki tilted his head, showing he was listening but not speaking through the food he'd already shovelled into his mouth, despite the way it made the holes in his lips sting. He'd barely eaten in the time he'd been imprisoned and not at all since his lips had been stitched together nearly a fortnight ago. He had been too nauseous to notice the previous night but now he realised how hungry he was.

"The guy practically lives off black coffee. I wouldn't inflict his cooking on anyone, even you."

Loki smirked slightly then continued to eat.

"What are you doing here?" Banner said finally, barely waiting until Loki had swallowed his last mouthful of toast.

"I'm being punished, Doctor Banner. I would say that was fairly obvious."

"But why  _ here _ ? Why New York, directly outside the Tower?"

"I assume the Allfather imagined your people would inflict the same pain that the Asgardians have," Loki sighed before continuing. "I would not blame you if you did."

"No. That's not what... God, no. They've already done enough."

"Nothing I did not deserve, even if it was out of my control."

"You're not the same guy who tried to take over." Banner said thoughtfully.

"I was not the master of my actions."

Banner shook his head, snorting quietly in disbelief, and started to walk towards the door.

"I'm telling the truth, Banner. What could I possibly stand to gain from harming so many people?"

Banner turned, not saying a word and keeping the look of disbelief but letting Loki continue.

"I'm not saying that I am innocent. I tried to kill my own  _ brother _ in a fit of envy but I was controlled, like he did to Barton and Selvic!"

"Who's 'he'?"

Loki snarled painfully and when he finally spoke it was through gritted teeth. "Thanos."


	6. Chapter 6

The doorbell was ringing annoyingly. Tony ignored it, vaguely hoping Pepper would get up and answer it or JARVIS would tell whoever it was to stop.

"Tony..." She murmured after a few minutes, still half asleep. When he didn't respond, hoping she thought he  _ was _ asleep, Pepper rolled over and hit him in the face with her pillow to wake him up.

Fair enough, he guessed, it was Saturday and she'd been doing CEO stuff all week while Tony did comparatively nothing. He yawned and stood up, staggering out of the bedroom and answered the door in his boxers and the t-shirt he'd been wearing yesterday.

Bruce was stood outside. "Morning, Tony."

Tony stared at him, blinking slowly, barely able to understand what the other man was saying, never mind string a sentence together without his morning coffee.

Bruce looked behind Tony for Pepper and, when he saw she wasn't up, continued to speak.

"I need to talk to you about that... Uh, project... From last night." He said quietly, still cautious.

Tony continued to stare for a few seconds then shut the door in the physicist's face to go and get dressed and get a coffee.

Bruce stared at the door, breathing deeply to contain his anger. Tony was probably Bruce's closest friend but he could be a dick, and was, a  _ lot _ . There was no other way he could put it. Bruce sort of understood why everyone else but Thor, a guy who was always pleased to find someone who could drink almost as much as him, found Tony at least slightly infuriating but they were a good team, for instance when Tony accidentally blew his lab up every once in a while, Bruce couldn't get hurt any worse by whatever radiation left the whole floor out of bounds for several weeks.

After about five minutes Tony opened the door again, dressed in a jeans and clean t-shirt, even if it was on backwards, and cradling a huge mug of coffee like it was his firstborn child.

"What?" He said, shutting the door behind him and walking with Bruce to where he'd left the demigod.

"He says he was controlled the whole time."

"Yeah, and I'm Audrey Hepburn. Next."

"He said that a creature called Thanos was controlling him."

"One; he's had a whole year to think this crap up. Two; who the hell is that?"

"No idea." Bruce admitted. "I looked it up but the closest I could find is Thanatos, the Ancient Greek personification of death."

"Guess that make sense." Tony shrugged.

"How?"

"If Rock of Ages and Point Break exist, why shouldn't the Greek guys?"

"I don't think that's right." Bruce said. "But I thought he was lying but the way he said it, Tony. He was terrified."

"He's a trickster god, Bruce. The guy lies professionally."

"I thought that to but what if he isn't? What if he's telling the truth? Just talk to him. You have more experience with lying than me."

Tony grinned.

"That wasn't a compliment."

 

-

 

"I don't see why I must go over this part, Thor will have told you." Loki said quietly, looking down.

Tony raised an eyebrow. Thor  _ had _ told them, several times in fact, but that wasn't the point. He had to get Loki to reveal everything for himself, not just have his brother to do it for him.

"I realised what I had done. It was that simple."

He carried on giving the demigod a pointed look.

"I saw my crimes. Both Thor and the Allfather offered me help and mercy but I knew... I knew I did not deserve it. I let go because I did not see an end to my anguish on Asgard. I hurt the people who had raised me as family, no matter what their real intentions."

"Then the Thanos guy took you over."

"It was not that simple. I fell onto the surface of a cold, barren planet, barely larger than an asteroid, far outside the Nine Realms. Not even an Asgardian can fall that far without bones breaking. I was dying, completely alone and in pain, all because I had been too much of a coward to face my judgement in front of the Odin. The Other found me..."

"Wait, who's 'the Other'?"

"It lives on the planet I fell to. It was the commander of the Chitauri army."

"And Thanos?" There'd been obvious disbelief in his voice for the whole time Tony had been speaking and Loki finally looked up again, his eyes bloodshot. There was something nearing the the fire he'd had the last time.

"The Other dragged me in front of Thanos. He saved me for reasons I, at the time, could not comprehend. He is a beast disguised as a man, Stark, you do not understand. He invaded my thoughts while I was weak, forced away what small amount of sanity I had left."

"Bullshit."

"Tony..." Bruce warned.

"No, Doctor Banner." Loki said indignantly. "What does he want me to say? That I  _ wanted _ this? That I wanted so many innocent humans  _ dead _ ?" The demigod looked visibly sickened and when he continued he was far quieter. "I'm a monster, I will not deny that. It is in my blood. The atrocities committed the last time I was in this city were not my own."

"You're not going to persuade me that easily."

Loki stood up, his unbroken hand curling into a fist, towering above Tony. The billionaire didn't flinch, matching the demigod's glare, even if he did have to look up.

"Nothing I can say can erase what was done in my name. The crimes are irredeemable. The images are burnt into my mind, Stark! All those people!" Loki's breathing became ragged and his arm was wrapped around his chest, holding his ribs. "You know that it is possible to be taken over, even if the spear failed on you! Why won't you believe me?"

"I've read your file."                                                                                

Loki fell back onto the bed again, his legs giving in. "I've lived through over nine hundred Midgardian years! Those are the events of barely a week in which I was not in my right mind."

Bruce stepped away from Tony and towards the demigod. Tony could see him mentally re-examining Loki's wounds.

"Tony, he's not strong enough for this. Don't you believe him yet?"

"I believed him when he started talking about the Other. Just wanted to make sure."

 

-

 

Loki stared at Stark in disbelief.

From the way Banner looked at the billionaire, it seemed that he was unimpressed by the Man of Iron's behaviour but not as much as Loki himself. The demigod debated casting a spell on Stark but he didn't want to live up to the reputation he was desperately trying to shed and he wasn't even sure he was strong enough to do anything damaging.

Banner touched his shoulder lightly. It was obvious the scientist was on  _ his _ side at the moment, not Stark's, but Loki didn't know how long that would last or even if the apparent sympathy was real.

"You really thought that was a good idea?"

"Interrogate him while he's still too weak to throw me out of a window? Yeah."

It wasn't that Loki didn't understand the billionaire's distrust but he was too tired to deal with the suspicions and mind games. He let his gaze fall to the floor, not bothering to repress his obvious exhaustion, instead choosing to use his weakness to his advantage. Maybe they'd stop with the mindless questions.

"Are you alright?" Banner asked quietly.

"I do not know." Loki sighed honestly then added. "I'm somewhat tired."

Banner nodded. "Get some more sleep."

Stark started to speak but Banner flashed a glare at him.

"You do remember the last time  _ you _ nearly died, right? He needs some time to heal."

Loki had to wonder exactly how many times Stark had come close to death. He was a reckless man to say the least, Loki knew from the blurred memories of the times they had met before this.

"That was different."

"JARVIS had to get you out of the suit with a can opener. This is the closest anyone without billions of dollars worth of smashed up armour can get."

The two heroes stared at each other. Loki expected Banner to give in first but eventually Stark turned to Loki quickly.

"Got my eye on you, Snape." He said, spinning on his heel and leaving the room.

"Why does Stark give me these peculiar names?" Loki wondered out loud.

"It's not just you, he's the same with pretty much everyone."

"But  _ why _ ?"

Banner shrugged. "No idea."

"And who is this 'Snape'?"

"He's a wizard from these kids books..."

"Allow me to hazard a guess; he is the villain." Loki interrupted.

"Kind of."

"How can someone be 'kind of' a villain?"

"They thought he was until near the end. Turned out he'd been a hero for most of it, they just didn't know."


	7. Chapter 7

The room was dark again when Loki opened his eyes. Banner had left him to sleep after his...disagreement with Stark that morning and he'd happily accepted the opportunity but now he was well rest. This might be the only opportunity he got to leave his cell and escape the Avengers. The problem was that part of him wanted to stay here, where he knew that, at least for the moment, he was safe. His lips still stung and blood still seeped into his mouth. Although he knew it wouldn't take long for his wounds to heal, the feeling of having his lips stitched together would stay with him for the rest of his life. It wasn't dissimilar to some kind of choking claustrophobia. Every time he'd woken up since that day, he'd been surprised that he was still breathing and hadn't choked on his own blood. The other torture they'd inflicted haunted his twisted dreams, visions of pain and madness and an inability to control his own actions.

Loki sat up slowly and looked around the darkened room, knowing that no matter where he was now, he'd have to leave eventually. It wasn't like the Avengers would welcome him. He was still shocked by the mercy he'd been shown by Stark and Banner.

Speaking of which, one of them had dropped a t-shirt and a pair of blue trousers made from the thick material that a lot of Midgardian clothes seemed to be made of. The clothes were far too baggy for him, especially in the gaunt, emaciated state being locked up for a year had left him but they probably had been before as well. He had to assume that the clothes had been bought for Thor at some point. He pulled them on despite the size and owner, just glad to finally be out of his blood-stained Asgardian clothes.

The door was still locked, impossible to see in the darkness against the white walls but Loki knew where it had been. He looked at the wall where the door had been, using as much magic as he dared to waste to open it. He knew he'd probably have to fight his way out of this one, no matter how much of his story Banner and Stark had actually believed. Loki limped into the darkened room. Around him, metal skeletons were built up from a floor that was cold against his bare feet. Most were the hollow shells of ruined vehicles, many of the panels missing or dented, all in various stages of reparation. Stark had obviously chosen a fight with the wrong person if this was all that remained of what Loki had to imagine had once been expensive pieces of machinery. In one corner was one of Stark's armoured suits, obviously older than the one Loki remembered him wearing, hung from the ceiling by hooks through the back and chains attached to the arms. This was obviously Stark's workshop, although Loki had to admit that he'd been expecting more suits and less vehicles.

Loki picked his way between the shells, having to keep an eye on the floor to stop himself falling over tools and more pieces of metal or stepping in the pools of grease covering a significant proportion of the floor.

He unlocked the door at the other end other the workshop and walked out into a dark corridor. There were several doors further down the corridor but no light came from under those either. It was either late or early, the perfect time for him to leave.

Loki padded to the end of the corridor silently and wandered through the open door. It was quiet here, regardless of the time. He had half expected JARVIS to raise some kind of alarm when he'd left his cell but it was silent, there were no signs of any Avengers rushing at him, ready to kill him on sight.

There was a staircase leading down, which presumably meant he was at the top floor of the tower, somewhere near to where the machine that had opened the wormhole had been. Loki shivered at the memory and started down the stairs to try and find a way out.

The first door out of the stairs was several floors below him and he wandered down slowly, trying to be as quiet as he could. He was unsure if agents Barton and Romanov were in the building but if he made the tiniest sound, they'd hear him. The way they operated as a unit was almost supernatural. Of course, under Thanos' control, Loki had killed a third of their unit and mentally shattered another. He knew that regardless of who would inflict it, his killing of the Son of Coul would not go unpunished and, honestly, he could never even wish to get away from that particular crime unscathed. The man had been more courageous than he'd ever thought a human could be.

Loki pushed on the door handle in front of him carefully. It opened, not requiring any more magical unlocking, and Loki stepped out onto the balcony that had once held the name 'STARK' in giant letters but now only retained the 'A'. This was the last place he'd tried to kill his brother, he remembered. The amount of times he'd attempted that particular crime, both under control and out of his mind, was shameful.

Stark was near the doors on the opposite side, leant against the railing with his peculiar phone in one hand and a glass of some kind of Midgardian alcohol in the other. He didn't look up and Loki thought the billionaire hadn't seen him until he spoke.

"You haven't tried to throw me off here yet, I guess that's a good sign." He said conversationally, continuing to tap at the various displays on the translucent blue screens.

"Do you not want to know how I escaped?" Loki asked quietly, the movement stinging his torn lips. Hunger and the heat of anger had numbed the pain earlier but now it returned with a vengeance and he didn't dare try to heal it with magic. The Allfather had probably found some cursed rude the wounds.

"You got out with magic." Stark shrugged, finally looking up from the screen and raising it to show Loki security footage of him leaving the cell.

"I was hungry." He said, lying only about his motives for escape. He  _ was _ still hungry. He had almost starved to death in his prison on Asgard. Where before he'd been slim, now he was skeletal. Even Stark would be able to believe this particular lie.

Stark nodded and dropped the phone into his pocket then wandered to the doors on the other end of the balcony. Loki followed him.

The more he thought about his situation, the more he knew he was stupid for thinking that he could fight his way out of the building, even with magic. He was practically swaying on his feet from weakness and exhaustion, a ghastly mixture brought on by his numerous injuries and malnutrition.

Loki flinched as he entered the room. Despite repairs and redecoration, he instantly recognised it as the room where he'd finally been defeated, remembered only in his especially realistic nightmares and the blurred visions of Thanos's control.

Stark leant against the bar, flashing Loki a smirk. "I feel like we've done this before."

"Not unless that was intended as a threat" Loki said quietly.

"No. I  _ am _ going to offer you a drink again, though."

"I doubt that would be a wise decision in my current state."

Stark shrugged, refilling his glass and wandering towards the elevator at the other side of the room.

"Where are you going?"

"You wanted food, right?" Stark said, rolling his eyes.

Loki nodded.

"Come on then."

He nodded again and followed Stark to the elevator. The billionaire pressed several buttons then leant back against the wall, looking at Loki. The demigod looked away uncomfortably but he could tell he was still being stared at.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Stark said finally as the elevator doors opened.

"What?"

"You should be dead."

"I'm aware of that. What I did..."

"No," Stark interrupted. "Biologically, you shouldn't be alive. You've been tortured and starved and then fell from a  _ different planet _ . A regular person would have dropped dead of shock by now  _ at least _ . How are you  _ alive _ ?"

"You seem to be forgetting, Stark, I'm not a 'regular person'. Not by anyone's standards." And that was putting it lightly, he knew. He was stuck between species, not Aesir and not entirely Jotunn, at least not any more.

Stark just shrugged, obviously not satisfied with the answer but not pushing after Banner's reaction to their earlier conversation, and stepped out of the elevator. Loki followed him into the kitchen of a darkened apartment.

"Is anyone else here?" Loki whispered, not wanting to wake whoever lived here.

"Yeah, this is Natasha's place. She'll be here in a minute" Stark grinned at the horror on the demigod's face. "No. Pepper's out at a conference. Got the place to myself for a few days."

"That was cruel, Stark."

"So was throwing me out of my own window."

Loki nodded, head falling to face the floor.

"Hey, cheer up Reindeer Games. People have done worse things."

"Worse than kill their own brother and try to enslave an entire planet?" Loki said pointedly.

"Well, no." He smirked. "But about a month after I first hired Pepper she kicked me in the crotch so hard I spoke an octave higher for best part of two weeks and look at us now."

"A short man in flying armour and the boss of his former company?"

Stark smirked again. "That's going on our Christmas cards this year."

"What?"

"Christmas cards."

Loki shot him a confused look then continued to search through the cupboards for something he could even vaguely recognise as food.

"Asgard doesn't have Christmas." Stark muttered, seemingly talking to himself more than Loki. He reached into one of the cupboards and three a bag of something at Loki.

He opened the bag and glared suspiciously at the contents, thin triangular things covered in some kind of orange powder.

"They're Doritos. You eat them."

Loki nodded, taking one out of the bag and staring at it.

Stark glanced at his watch and started back to the elevator.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to work."

"When it's this late?"

"Its not like I'd get any sleep anyway." Stark shrugged.

Loki nodded and Stark left him alone in the kitchen. He spent awhile looking at the Doritos again, wondering how humans could eat something that appeared to be made of thinly sliced wood, eventually abandoning the bag in favour of curling up on Stark's sofa and falling into a sleep filled with his usual nightmares.


	8. Chapter 8

There was an incessant knocking in Loki's consciousness, keeping him lingering on the line between awake and asleep. He rolled over in attempt to fall back into the deep, dreamless sleep he'd managed to have since the early hours of the morning and fell from Stark's sofa, hitting the tiled floor hard. And there he lay, whimpering every obscenity he knew at the stabs of pain this action had caused his various injuries as the knocking continued.

"Come on, Stark, we know you're in there!" Captain Rogers' voice echoed between stretches of banging on the door.

There were more footsteps outside and Stark opened it.

"We should have been at SHIELD half an hour ago! Where were you?" Rogers said, stepping between Stark and the open door.

"Good morning to you too, Capsicle." Stark avoided the question to turn and smirk at Barton. "Hey, Katniss. You miss me?"

"There was a noise in your apartment, Stark." Rogers said quickly before the archer could retort. Loki remembered Barton's wit, even when he'd been under control, and assumed that he and Stark could be in some kind exchange of petty insults for hours if allowed to start.

"Yeah, it's probably one of the two hundred male strippers I hired for you."

Rogers stared at him, mouth slightly open as if he was trying to say something but failing. Barton smirked behind him.

"Are you going to come in then, Capsicle? They're waiting for you," Stark paused for a split second, not long enough to see if Rogers had regained the ability to speak. "No? Okay."

Stark sidled past him into the apartment and slammed the door in Rogers' face.

"Asshole." He muttered, locking the door behind him.

Loki looked up at him from the floor.

"Not gonna get up then?"

Loki sat up stiffly, leaning back against the sofa.

"You know, you could have slept in the bed like a normal person."

"I thought you would come back and I wasn't entirely sure if I was welcome to stay in this apartment."

"I was working. And I wouldn't have brought you up here if you weren't."

Loki nodded and stood up, trying to smooth out the creases in his baggy Midgardian clothing. "What does Captain Rogers want you for?"

"Monthly meeting with Fury and SHIELD." Stark shrugged, wandering into the bedroom. "We've all got to go and sit on the helicarrier while Fury gets pissed at me."

Loki gave a slight wince as he remembered Fury threatening him when he'd been locked in the glass cage. That was a fresh memory, only just forcing its way into his mind after months of hiding behind the walls in Loki's head. Stark was a braver man than Loki had thought to be able to continually stand up to the SHIELD director, or maybe just somehow more idiotically reckless, if that was possible.

Stark swaggered out again, that was the only real way to describe how he walked, wearing a suit instead of the rumpled jeans and t-shirt he'd been wearing before.

He was about to leave again when he picked up a bag from next to the door and threw it at Loki. It was full of new clothes. Loki looked at him questioningly.

"You can't keep wearing your brother's shirts. You look like one of those rich kids who who think they're the next Eminem."

"I take it that's a negative thing to be?" Loki hazarded.

Stark smirked and nodded then opened the door, wearing the sort of grin back on his face he seemed to have reserved for irritating Captain Rogers.

"Alright, Capsicle, I'm coming, don't get your Star Spangled panties in a twist." He said, pushing past Rogers and slamming the door before either of the other Avengers could catch a glance of Loki.

Loki yawned quietly, wincing slightly at the pain that caused his torn lips. and stood up. He limped back into the kitchen where he looked suspiciously at the discarded bag of Doritos. He was incredibly hungry and these things were apparently edible. He regarded the contents with only hunger this time, not disdain, and started to eat, slowly at first but speeding up as he realised his hunger and the taste of what he was actually eating. It would appear that, despite all their failings, the mortals had gotten at least one thing right. Food in a bag that still tasted that good. If Stark had invented those, he was obviously as big a genius as he claimed. If not, he had some kind of sense even having them stored in his cupboards.

This meal was definitely a change from Asgard. When he'd still been a prince, every breakfast had been a banquet with the staff and royals alike eating in the great hall of the palace. More recently, the few meals he'd had had been bread and water delivered to a glass-fronted, magically enforced cell by taunting guards. Stood in Stark's kitchen eating strange, but, he had to admit, delicious, Midgardian food was certainly another new experience. It wouldn't be the last either, he was unlikely to be leaving this realm any time soon. He opened the cupboards again as he had last night but this time with a stronger idea of what he was doing. His eyes lit up when he found the rest of Stark's Doritos and sat back down on the sofa to eat.

When he'd finished, he knew it was time to leave again. He couldn't stay here, even though Stark had said he could. Of all the places he should be if he had to be banished to Midgard, the Tower certainly wasn't it.

He looked in the bag Stark had throw at him. There was a plain, dark green long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of black trousers made from the same material as the ones he was currently wearing. They were slightly too baggy for him but he guessed that was because Stark knew how thin he had become in his imprisonment and that he wasn't going to stay in this state of malnourishment forever.

When he'd pulled the clothes on he walked to the elevator he'd been brought up in the previous night. It was freakishly quiet now without anyone else in the metal box with him but that was probably a good thing, the lack of sound meant the Avengers were still gone.

He wandered into the room he'd been beaten in the previous year, thanking the gods that The Hulk wasn't in here this time.

"Morning." A voice greeted.

Loki turned, internally cursing himself for getting caught again. His instincts had almost disappeared completely after having his mind twisted to the point it had been then spending so long confined in a cell and he was still too weak to use illusion or shape-shift into the body of one of the Tower's other inhabitants.

Banner was stood there, a slight smile on his face.

"Good morning, Doctor Banner." He said, keeping his tone even. "I didn't know you would be back from SHIELD yet."

"It should have taken longer but Tony's the only one who has to stand around and let Fury yell at him. If it's going to take too long, we make excuses and get the hell out before he starts breathing fire." Banner shrugged.

"So the other Avengers are already back here?"

"Steve is. Nat and Clint are still there doing whatever they do for work when they're not with us."

"And what has Stark done to provoke the director?"

"Not sure this time. Probably something to do with blowing up half of the Helicarrier's shooting range but that was Clint's fault for leaving his arrows lying around and thinking that Tony wouldn't try to 'improve' them."

Loki smirked slightly, amused by the image of the archer's own arrows exploding in his face. That was something he remembered from the battle and, while he conceded that Barton had every reason to do so, whether they be personal or relating to orders, he was still more than slightly bitter about being blown off a Chitauri vehicle by the exploding arrows.

"So did Tony give you anything to eat before he left?"

Loki shrugged, feeling no need to mention the fact that there were now only several empty bags and a few crumbs left in the cupboard that had previous been filled with Stark's Doritos. After several weeks of starvation and months before that of only bread and water, he was hardly going to turn down a meal.


	9. Chapter 9

Loki followed Banner down in the elevator to a floor he hadn't entered before. It was a fairly large apartment that didn't feel like anyone lived in it, barring a few shelves full of worn books and a mug sat upside down on the edge of the sink. It had the feel of a lot of the guest rooms in the palace back on Asgard; like someone stayed there occasionally but it was never intended to be permanent accommodation.

"Steve's going to be upstairs when he's finished in the gym. He won't come down here."

Loki nodded.

"What d'you want to eat?"

Loki shrugged. He knew he was hungry. He didn't know what he actually wanted to eat.

Banner smiled at his cluelessness. "I didn't have any breakfast before we went to the helicarrier so I'm gonna get a bacon sandwich. Is that okay for you?"

Bacon. That was something he recognised. Real food, not something peculiar looking in a bag that may or may not actually have been intended to be edible. "Do you really have to ask?"

Banner smiled again and Loki followed him into the tiny kitchen of the apartment.

Loki sat on one of the two stools around the counter in Banner's kitchen and watched him drop bacon into a frying pan.

"Sorry if this completely fails. The only other person I've cooked for in years is Tony and he generally either just wants black coffee or takeout."

Loki shrugged. Asgardian cooking didn't exactly require... Finesse. He most likely wouldn't object however it turned out.

As Banner cooked, Loki started to unwrap the bandages around his arm and broken hand. If it was any normal injury, he would have healed by now but the Allfather was very specific in the curses that had been placed on his adopted son. The burns were still red and livid and showed no signs of healing and, although Stark and Banner had tried to set the bones in the right position, his hand was crooked with several of the small, delicate bones sticking into his skin in a way that definitely wasn't natural.

Banner turned. "I can help you with that if you want."

Loki shrugged. He hadn't needed assistance with wounds this minor in millenia, even if the Avenger did mean well.

Loki raised his other hand, the one relatively undamaged beyond the missing fingernails, above it, a pale glow forming around the injuries. Loki cursed quietly as the bones reset themselves with sickening clicking noises but getting beaten up by Thor's friends when they were kids and his Warriors since had made Loki fairly adept at healing magic and he'd built up a fair amount of resistance to this specific type of pain. He didn't just use magic to create doubles of himself and harm others, contrary to popular opinion. He could help himself, and for that matter other people too.

"Did you just..."

"Yes." Loki interrupted with a slight shrug, running his still glowing hand over the burns further up his arms. They still left scars despite the magic. That was obviously Odin's doing.

"Why didn't you just do that when you were banished down here?"

"I'd been starved and the stitches in my lips bound my magic, Doctor Banner." He raised a hand to the punctures around his lips and the the light glowed for a second before fizzing out, proving his point. "And even if the latter part hadn't been true, I didn't have the strength to  _ move _ , never mind use magic."

"So you could do that on all of it?"

"With the exception of my lips, as I've just demonstrated. And I intend to."

Banner leant across the counter and took his glasses out of his shirt pocket, looking down at Loki's hands with an intrigued expression. "How do you do that?"

The demigod shrugged again. "Magic."

"Yeah, but  _ how _ ?"

That was the exact moment the smoke alarm above them chose to go off and Banner turned quickly, turning off the heat beneath the frying pan and swearing under his breath. Loki twisted a hand and the smoke disappeared, the alarm stopping abruptly.

Banner scratched his head vaguely and poked the blackened pieces of meat with a fork, his queries, for the moment, forgotten. "Probably a good job I apologised in advance."


	10. Chapter 10

Several days later, Loki lay awake, silent and barely moving, in an actual bed for the first time in too long, several days after watching Banner almost set his own kitchen on fire. He'd been dreaming for most of the night; a pantheon of nightmares, each worse than the previous. Memories of the last time he'd been on Midgard and the time before and ghastly new hallucinations of death and destruction. He'd given up on the idea of sleep sometime in the early hours of the morning and stared out of the glass that made up one wall of the small room. It was snowing outside, huge flakes swirling quickly through the grey sky and Loki was thankful of Banner and Stark for allowing him to stay in the tower, even if he didn't know their motives. He had healed himself and was, by all other definitions, fine but he'd been given one of Stark's guest rooms on the same floor as the workshop and the cell he was originally kept in. Perhaps the horrendous weather was a contributing factor; they were probably too...  _ Heroic _ to let him freeze to death out on the streets but he couldn't help wonder why.

He was dreading the moment that the other Avengers were inevitably told of his survival, and either Stark or Banner would have to tell them eventually. Romanov and Barton wouldn't hesitate to kill him on sight, not that they didn't have good reason, and he had no idea how Rogers would react to his presence. No matter how many times he reminded himself that he'd been controlled, he knew he could never truly be trusted by these people. Especially Thor. The first time he'd betrayed his brother was barely acceptable but, despite the fact that it wasn't  _ him _ trying to rule the Earth, Thor would never believe they were capable of being true brothers ever again. And forever was a long time for their species. He had to admit that, beyond that fear, he was almost missing his brother now, despite his previous rivalry and hatred towards his adopted sibling. Thor deserved to know the truth after everything he'd done. Even when it had seemed so hopeless, in that split second where he'd almost regained control as he watched the Chitauri come through the portal, Thor had given him the chance to change.

But, really, Loki knew he'd probably never trust  _ himself _ again. How could he expect anyone else to trust him when even he didn't know if he was going to lose control?

Loki shook the thoughts off and sat up slowly, the lights of Stark's guest room flashing on as JARVIS sensed he was finally getting up despite having slept very little for the fear of more nightmares.

"Good morning, sir."

"Good morning, JARVIS." He said politely, yawning quietly.

"Doctor Banner has requested you to go downstairs to the Avengers' shared floor."

Loki nodded and stood up stiffly, still tired because of the amount of times his horrific dreams had woken him up. He'd given up on sleep in the early hours of the morning. He stared nervously at the doorway, still half expecting to see Barton or Romanov there the second he tried to leave despite how long he'd been here.

Loki padded down the wooden-floored corridor quietly towards the elevator, not entirely sure of where he was going. The doors of the elevator opened into a large, high-ceilinged room with one wall made of glass, looking out over New York. There were several sofas, currently empty, facing a large television screen, currently blank, in the centre of the room and a kitchen on the side opposite the window.

"Morning." Banner was stood in the kitchen, leant against one of the shining Midgardian devices with a mug in his hands.

Loki hesitated slightly. "Good morning, Doctor Banner."

"You can just call me Bruce, you know? Now you aren't trying to kill us I think we're kind of beyond formality."

Loki nodded, still standing in the doorway and looking around nervously. "May I ask where the other Avengers are this morning?"

"They got called out on a mission a few hours ago."

"And you did not?" He asked curiously, slowly walking into the room.

"The Other Guy isn't brilliant for search and rescue." Ban...  _ Bruce _ shrugged, obviously used to being left behind on this sort of thing. "Good for breaking things, not for putting then back together."

Loki nodded, wincing slightly as he remembered the Hulk repeatedly throwing him against the ground. That memory was painfully clear against the blur of the rest of that day.

"Anyway, they won't be back for a few days."

He nodded again and sat on one of the stools around the counter.

"You know Thor's probably going to be with them when they get here?"

"Yes." He said quietly, staring at the floor. "I was aware of that."

"Are you ok with it?"

"I don't believe I have much of a choice. I have nowhere else to go."

"Tony has at least two other apartments you could go to."

"I doubt Stark trusts me enough to allow me to stay there alone, not that I blame him."

Bruce shrugged. "He's done way stupider things."

"I dare say Stark has done far more intelligent things too."

"Depends on what you class as intelligence." Bruce gave a slight smile and shook his head. "You want a coffee?"

Loki nodded appreciatively. He still wasn't exactly sure what the point of the beverage was but he had to admit that he liked it. Asgard wasn't exactly famous for hot drinks beyond those containing alcohol but both Bruce and Stark seemed to consume copious amounts of coffee and occasionally tea, a drink apparently made by stewing something that looked suspiciously like old grass in a very small bag.

Bruce poured coffee from the pot behind him into one of the various Stark Industries mugs from the cupboard and pushed it over to Loki. He smiled gratefully at Bruce and cradled the mug in his pale, scarred hands.

"It is not a problem, Bruce." He sighed quietly into his coffee then looked up at the scientist. "I've stayed in one of Stark's spare rooms for a while already, a few more days will hardly change anything."

"I'm going to be staying in one of Tony's other places for the night. I don't want to have to watch  _ another _ one of Tony's success celebrations. Not when I wasn't on the mission."

Loki nodded silently and took another sip of coffee.

"You know that was an invitation, right?"

The demigod looked up. "Was it?"

"I'm not leaving you here alone with only a drunk Tony for company when I'm going somewhere else. That'd just be cruel."

"Thank you." Loki said with a genuine smile, probably the first in years.


	11. Chapter 11

Bruce had apparently received a message from Stark earlier stating that Pepper Potts was coming back from her conference early. Loki wasn't entirely sure if that was a positive or a negative but, either way, the doctor seemed quite desperate to get out of the Tower at this news. From what he remembered from research the last time he'd been here, Miss Potts was a very intelligent woman and it wouldn't surprise Loki if she had worked out that he was back on Midgard. He'd found Loki a leather jacket from Thor's floor and given him a bag with a few more clean clothes in it that Stark had evidently bought before he left.

Loki followed Bruce out of the elevator into lobby silently, staying close to the other man's side. Bruce took one look at the doors and, even though it had been nothing more than a glance from the other side of the room, turned and started to walk another way.

"Where are you going?"

"Out the back way. I thought since we're going out so early they wouldn't be here yet..."

"And who are 'they'?"

"The people who stand outside every weekend trying to get Tony and Steve's autographs. Sometimes your brother too. Some of them have, like, costumes and stuff. We're better off going out the other way."

"None of them wait for you?"

Bruce shrugged sheepishly. "I doubt it. I'm just some guy they might've seen mentioned in their school textbooks, not a hero."

"You won the battle, it was you who beat me."

"That was The Other Guy, not me. I don't want the attention."

Loki nodded, slightly shocked by the physicist's humility. Despite his recent revelations on his past crimes, Bruce's need for anonymity was beyond the reaches of his comprehension. He'd had to fight for even the smallest amount of attention for his entire life, a fact certainly evident from his actions over the last few years, and couldn't understand why anyone would turn it down.

A slightly mischievous smile came to Bruce's face. "But I think a few of them are probably dressed up as you."

Loki's eyes widened in horror. " _ What? _ "

He walked towards the glass doors and, without getting close enough to be seen, looked through. Bruce had been right. There were a lot of people, mostly young, both male and female, stood outside talking excitedly to each other. Most of them wore something that made them look like one of the heroes that were currently away on a mission. Apart from a few smaller boys with faces painted green and ripped clothes, no-one there was dressed as Bruce, all seeming to prefer Stark or Rogers or Thor but, as Loki crept closer, trying not to draw attention to himself, he saw more than just the odd few wearing armour and carrying sceptres and wearing elaborate homemade versions of his helmet. He'd tried to kill these people, whether it was under Thanos' influence or not, and now they were stood outside the home of his former enemies in clothes that looked like his.

He walked back over to Bruce. "You're right. The back exit seems like a much more rational idea."

"Most of them are nice enough people when you speak to them." Bruce shrugged.

"That is not what troubles me."

"Then what is it?"

"Only a year ago I would have killed them."

"Yeah, well," Bruce said then paused and scratched his head as if wondering what to say next. "You're still quite a good looking guy, y'know..."

Loki smiled, barely able to suppress his embarrassment but pleased at the compliment.

He shivered as they walked out into the street. It was freezing cold. He'd almost forgotten what winter was like after a years imprisonment on Asgard and being far too numb to notice the weather when he was first cast to this world.

"I thought you were a Frost Giant?"

"That doesn't mean I have to like the cold." Loki grumbled, pulling the sleeves of Thor's jacket further over his hands. In his experience it was precisely the opposite to  _ liking _ . He remembered whole winters when he hadn't left the palace as a child. Days when Thor and his friends had been out finding new and ingenious ways to cause severe injuries using only snow, Loki had spent in the library, a place that Loki doubted that Thor knew the existence of even now.

Bruce smiled slightly and stepped to the edge of the sidewalk to hail a cab.

Loki slid to the far side of the sticky seat, Bruce climbing in next to him. The doctor gave the driver the address, shooting Loki a reassuring look when the cab started to move. Horses and anything that could fly, Loki could understand and was mostly good at, but Midgardian vehicles were beyond him. Why build something so impractical that could only move on fairly flat land or on water when you could build something that could float above both? It didn't make that much sense to him.

"What did you mean by not leaving me alone with a drunk Stark? He can't be that bad." Loki said thoughtfully after a while of getting used to the cab.

Bruce winced slightly at a memory and shrugged. "You'd be surprised."

"I've lived on Asgard for most of my life. I've had to escort Thor and his warriors back to Odin after several solid days only leaving taverns to go on to the next one."

"If you want horror stories, you're better off asking Pepper. She's the one who was around when Tony used to wake up in bed with all the inhabitants of the Playboy Mansion. Even Heffner once, apparently." Bruce gave a disgusted shiver. Whoever he happened to be talking about was obviously no fine beauty.

"I'm guessing Stark never had to wear a dress and marry a giant because he thought it was a good way to something of his back, though."

"Wait, that's actually  _ true _ ?"

"Yes. Although with the amount he'd been drinking I doubt Thor actually remembers it. You've heard this story before?"

"It's in Norse mythology. I didn't think any of it was true."

"All legends have to start somewhere." Loki shrugged, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.

"Some of that stuff is just  _ weird _ though. There's a bunch about you. Something about giving birth to an eight legged horse."

Loki coughed slightly awkwardly. "Yes, well, we all have dark periods in our lives."

Bruce looked at him as if he was going to ask something then sensed that Loki obviously wasn't comfortable talking about this subject and turned to look out of the window instead of pressing any further. The scientist had certainly had some times in his life that he'd rather not talk about, he'd understand Loki's reluctance to share his own.

"I'd very much appreciate it if you didn't mention that to Stark. I doubt I'd ever live it down."

Bruce nodded, now deep in his own thoughts.

Loki looked out of the window himself, wondering what the scientist was thinking about. Several of the buildings were still damaged, some just with a few windows still boarded over, some covered by scaffolding and signs proclaiming them to be unsafe. He'd done that. He'd changed a landscape and a skyline. Loki didn't want to think about the numerous people who would have died in this small area alone, never mind across the rest of the city. He looked away from the window and down at his feet, now wearing the strange Midgardian footwear Stark had supplied. Maybe that's what occupied Bruce's mind. Bruce was sat in a cab with a creature, scarcely a man, especially not by human standards, that had tried to destroy his home. Although, Loki was fairly certain that the doctor, or at least his alter-ego, had tried to do that himself several years ago. Loki could see how, without being an actual danger, he'd be a horrible reminder of something Bruce and Stark and probably the rest of their world would have tried so hard to forget. That was certainly not going to be the easiest obstacle to overcome, although with what Loki had survived so far, it was possible that he could manage it.

The cab stopped and Loki opened the door, quickly, and not without paranoia, getting out before he could be hit by a car. He'd seen that happen to his brother enough times to recognise that it would not exactly be a painless experience.

He waited on the sidewalk for Bruce to pay the driver, staring up at the building they were apparently staying in. It was another skyscraper covered with glass, similar to many other buildings in the city but significantly less damaged than some of the others he'd seen on the way. It was an imposing structure for Midgard but nowhere near the same scale as many of the buildings back on Asgard.

He was so preoccupied with the thoughts of his former home and taking in another part of his new surroundings, Loki didn't notice that Bruce had finished paying the cab driver.

"You coming?" The scientist called, pausing just in front of the glass doors of the building.

Loki nodded quickly and hurried after him.


	12. Chapter 12

The building seemed to be empty as they rode the elevator up to the top floor where Stark's penthouse was. When Loki pointed this out Bruce nodded.

"The people who own these apartments either use them for business trips or weekends. They'll all be working or at home right now."

Loki nodded.

"Anyway, this is the quietest of Tony's places, even when the other people /are/ here. Perfect place for two fugitives to stay for a few days."

"You're a fugitive?"

"Not  _ technically,  _ at least any more. SHIELD took the government bounty off my head but there's a guy I pissed off a few years ago, a general, he bears a grudge..."

Loki nodded knowingly and didn't ask any further. He could tell that Bruce wasn't exactly comfortable talking about this subject, as Loki didn't like talking about various negative aspects of his own past. It appeared they both had their fair share of enemies, whatever their reasons door acquiring them.

"Tomorrow we've got to go out anyway."

"Why?" Loki said defensively.

"Well, I guess we don't have to if don't want. I just assumed you don't want to be wearing your brother's clothes for much longer."

"You assumed correctly." He said.

"You don't have to sound so embarrassed about it. When I moved into the tower, I was wearing Tony's old shirts for like two weeks while they were taking me off the wanted lists. Mine were all in Calcutta or got destroyed by the Other Guy."

The elevator door opened to a short hallway with a door at the end, which Bruce unlocked before they entered.

It was obvious that barely anyone had been up here since Stark Tower had been built, although, probably not unusually of the absentminded billionaire, he hadn't gotten around to selling it.

Loki looked around. It didn't seem as full of Stark's various inventions as the Tower was but it was just as large. Eventually the demigod paused in his investigations of his new surroundings and sat on the sofa, looking out of the glass that made up most of one wall.

Bruce sat at the other end of the sofa, pressing several buttons on the remote.

"Tony gave me a list of movies that you need to watch." Bruce said, rolling his eyes slightly. He took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and tried to to decipher Stark's terrible handwriting. He looked down the list, murmuring a few of the names as he worked them out. " _ Star Wars... Lord of the Rings... Airplane... Life of Brian... _ "

He picked up the remote again, flicking through lists on the screen and finally selected something.

The screen turned black with flecks of orange light drifting across it. Words faded onto the screen; ' _ Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl _ ' and Loki turned to looked at Bruce.

"It's a good movie and I guess Tony'll probably want to see your face when you watch Star Wars."

"And I do not get a choice in this?"

"If you ever want to pass for human, you've at least got to watch the original three Star Wars."

"What if I don't wish to be human?"

"Then Tony'll probably keep you locked up in the Tower for the next few decades."

"I would like to see him try." Loki scoffed.

"It's not him you've got to worry about." Bruce said darkly.

He was right, of course. Between SHIELD, the Avengers, the Asgardians and the various other enemies Loki had made in the short time he'd spent on Midgard, he didn't stand a chance on his own.

Then he realised that wasn't what Bruce was talking about.

"With the people I've managed to offend in my other short visits to this realm, your 'other guy' would be the least of my problems." He said calmly.

Bruce nodded slightly, obviously not convinced, and turned back to the television. Loki observed him for a few seconds, waiting to see if the doctor was going to make any other comment, then did the same.

 

-

 

Bruce didn't know when he'd fallen asleep but now the room was dark other than for the glow of the television screen. He couldn't remember what they'd been watching but it was fairly obvious neither he or Loki had really given it much attention by the fact that the demigod was also asleep at the other end of the sofa. It may have been during the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean; Bruce had never really rated that movie so it would have made sense if he'd passed out during that.

Loki shivered and curled up tighter, a tight grimace of pain and fear on his pale face.

Bruce sat up straighter then leant over and touched the demigod's arm gently.

Loki sat bolt upright, his eyes snapping open. He fell back when he realised where he was, breathing deeply and looking relieved.

"Are you okay?" Bruce said, resting a hand on his shoulder. Loki flinched at the contact and shrugged him off.

"Fine." He snapped then his head fell to his chest. "I'm fine."

"Nightmare?"

Loki stayed silent for a few seconds, staring at the floor. "Yes."

Bruce reached for his shoulder again. Loki flinched again but didn't move away this time.

"What was it about?"

Loki looked up, meeting Bruce's eyes. Bruce recognised that expression. For years he'd seen it on his own face when he looked in the mirror every morning. Fear. Self-loathing. It was the look of someone who was within arm's reach of giving up completely, and in Loki's case probably not for the first time. The demigod's eyes were bloodshot, looking almost as if he was close to tears.

Loki sighed quietly and looked away again before Bruce could respond. He stood up stiffly and started to wander towards one of the bedrooms.

"Wait."

"What is it now?" He snapped. He tried to sound as vicious and biting as he had in the past but there was no heart in it.

"You shouldn't just go to sleep in that state."

"What do you care?"

"I... I know how you feel."

"Yes, because every mortal dreams of almost committing genocide."

"I do." Bruce whispered, rubbing his eyes. "Even if I've never come close to actually managing it as you did with here and what your brother said you all did on Jotunnheim, I  _ do _ ." It would have been easy for Bruce to dismiss his dreams as another effect of the Other Guy's on his psyche but it wasn't. They were his own dreams. And, as guilty as he felt to admit it, even just to himself, the destruction he wreaked in those dreams always felt  _ good _ .

Loki's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe any of what Bruce had just said. He didn't believe that there was any other creature in the universe as wretched as he was. Bruce  _ knew _ that. He knew that because that was what he had thought about himself for years, and even now, if to a slightly lesser extent.

"What do you suggest?" Loki said bitterly.

Bruce stood up slowly. The demigod was so much taller than him, even with the slightly slouched, wary posture he'd had since he'd come back to Earth. Bruce had to look up to meet his cold gaze.

Wait. Not cold, defensive. Before, when they had just been speaking, not about anything important, he hadn't had that look. Bruce got the impression that most people didn't question the demigod very often when he gave them that look. But he wasn't most people, he guessed. Fear of anything other than losing control hadn't really effected him that strongly in several years.

"I don't know how people on Asgard react to that look, but you don't scare me."

"I should."

Bruce reached out for Loki's wrist as the demigod tried to move away again. His skin was cool against Bruce's hand. He was a Frost Giant, that made perfect sense.

"Whatever you remember, whatever you did before the last time you were here, you can't kill me."

"You mean I would not try."

"I mean you  _ can't _ . It's a physical impossibility." Bruce said. "That  _ thing _ inside me won't let me die. And I've wanted to. You couldn't kill me if you tried."

"Would you stake your life on that?" Loki said quietly.

"I already have."

"Really?" A small smirk came to the demigod's face. He ran his tongue over his damaged lips slowly and stepped closer to the scientist, leaving barely an inch between them. "Are you willing to now?"


	13. Chapter 13

"Are you willing to now?"

"Yes." Bruce said hoarsely, barely loud enough to be audible.

Loki had to admire his bravery. There were other mortals he'd met, namely the other Avengers and Director Fury of SHIELD, who had acted more courageous the last time he'd been here but something about the scientist made Loki more impressed. He kept to himself while human, trying to avoid the conflict. But he wasn't afraid, at least not visibly.

Loki wasn't exactly certain what he'd been planning to do now. All he'd known was that he specifically didn't want to talk about the nightmare that Bruce had woken him up from. There were some horrific deeds in that recurring terror, both inflicted on him and by him. The problem was, he didn't know which ones were real and which were his imagination any more. He hated that he still had next to no control over parts of his own mind and memories.

So the aggressive approach hadn't worked. It wouldn't take much for him to start asking questions again. Time to try something different.

 

-

 

Loki leant down, his lips brushing against the scientist's so softly he barely felt it.

"Thought you said I'd be risking my life." Bruce whispered.

Loki smirked, as if knowing he'd won whatever this was, and kissed him again, harder than the first time, practically pinning him against the wall with barely any visible effort. Bruce could taste the demigod's blood in his mouth, coppery but somehow sweeter than a human's. Bruce ran his tongue up Loki's chin where blood from his punctured lips had just started to drip and felt the demigod shiver, almost like a low purr running through his chest.

Bruce wasn't stupid; he knew that this was only happening to stop the argument that they'd just been having. But he was powerless to resist, somehow. He'd not  _ been _ with anyone since the one of the last few times he'd seen Betty almost five years ago. He'd been on the run again since then and had barely even dared look at anyone in case they recognised him.

One of Loki's hands ran through his hair and the other reached down, sliding along his spine then towards the zipper of his jeans.

Bruce felt his pulse rising. It was high, too high. He could fight it all he wanted but it wouldn't work, it never did. He pulled himself away, falling back and breathing deeply to try and stop the Other Guy taking over. Loki's eyes narrowed, a mixture of concern and what might have been  _ offence _ on his pale face. Bruce didn't really care about that for the moment, just trying not to lose control of even the slightest thing, not even for a second. He was making it worse, panicking that it was going to happen, that he was going to change again against his will.

He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, blocking out everything but the sound of blood rushing in his ears.

"Bruce." A voice asked from what felt like miles away. The sound was blurred like he was hearing it underwater.

"Bruce?" The voice repeated, this time a question not a statement. He couldn't reply. He knew the way his voice would sound if he did and that would just make this worse.

"Doctor Banner."

Bruce felt a cold hand on his neck, calm spreading from the area of skin it had been rested. He finally looked up again, swallowing the bile from the back of his throat.

"What in the name of Odin's beard happened then?"

"Pulse got too high." Bruce said softly, still not quite trusting his vocal chords.

"I was informed it just anger that caused your transformations, not your heart."

"They informed you wrong." Bruce said, finally opening his eyes again.

"I'm aware of that now." Loki said quietly, crouched on the floor in front of the scientist, looking intently at him.

"You stopped it. What did you do?"

"I slowed your heart." He said in a tone that clearly suggested that he could have stopped it just as easily.

"Thank you." He whispered, getting up off the floor slightly shakily and rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Most people don't appreciate that being done to them." Loki said, straightening up again himself.

"Most people don't turn into a fucking monster when they have any kind of strong emotions."

"You fear that side of yourself. Why not just embrace it?"

"All the Other Guy does when he gets out it kill. I can't control it. Even when what caused me to turn into  _ that _ is happiness, all I can do is watch from inside my head as he breaks stuff."

"I would have thought that part at least could be cured."

"Not that easy. I can't have less than one hundred percent concentration for a even second." Bruce said quietly, staggering slightly as he walked back to the sofa.

Any irritation on Loki's face had been replaced by the something else now, maybe intrigue at the new things he'd learnt, maybe pity. He padded off into the kitchen after a while, maybe to get a drink, maybe a knife to protect himself from the monster he was currently sharing an apartment with, Bruce thought vaguely.

Finally he sat down on the sofa again, closer to Bruce this time. The scientist tried to shuffle further away and Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Surely I can't cause anything simply by sitting next to you?"

"I don't know." Bruce said quietly. "I don't know what I can do in my sleep."

Another raised eyebrow, this time more suggestive than sarcastic.

"I hope that wasn't a threat, Bruce." He whispered with a smirk and leant right into Bruce's ear. "In fact, I rather hope it's a promise."

The demigod stood up again, stretched, shot Bruce one last, tiny smirk and wandered to the bedroom he'd been going to sleep in in the first place.


	14. Chapter 14

Golden, early-morning sunlight flooded the main room of Tony Stark's spare apartment, too high up to have its view of the sunrise impeded by other buildings.

Bruce opened his eyes groggily, still too asleep to notice the beautiful morning, and sat up, body stiff from falling asleep in an almost impossible position on the sofa. When he remembered the events of the last night, he winced. He'd embarrassed the hell out of himself.

He'd fallen for that scheme to start with. It was obvious that Loki had only kissed him to stop him talking. It was one of the oldest tricks in the book. And when he'd realised his pulse was too high he'd just fallen away. Then made it worse by panicking. He was lucky it was Loki he'd been kissing or the building could have ended up destroyed.

Bruce sighed slightly. The thing was, he'd found Loki completely irresistible. Yeah, he'd known the demigod was attractive from the second he'd seen him through the window of the lab on the SHIELD helicarrier last year, even if he'd denied it to everyone including himself, but when they'd been so close together every beautiful about him seemed amplified, from the pale, smooth skin on his still too-thin face and the piercing eyes to his scent, a mixture of whatever expensive soap Tony left in his guest rooms and pure pheromones.

As if knowing that Bruce had been thinking about him, the door to the room Loki had used the previous night opened. He was wearing the last of the clean t-shirts Tony had bought him, a plain black v-neck that displayed the scars from whatever torture the Asgardians had inflicted on him. Bruce's eyes seemed to be stuck where the burns had been on his forearm, still imagining what had been there when Tony had found the demigod, broken and bleeding in front of the Tower.

He wandered into the kitchen of the apartment, seemingly ignoring Bruce, and looked through the cupboards until he found the one that contained mugs. He turned and looked across the apartment, smiling at Bruce slightly when he saw that the scientist was awake. He took a second mug out of the cupboard and waved a hand over them.

The smell of coffee reached Bruce's nose as Loki passed him one of the mug.

"How did you do that?"

"Magic." Loki shrugged.

"I know that, but how? You're creating matter. That shouldn't be possible."

"Not creating," Loki gestured vaguely. "Just changing."

Bruce wondered if that meant that he just didn't know how it was done on a fundamental level or if he was simply unwilling to explain. The demigod was intelligent enough but Bruce didn't know how much Asgardians actually knew about the technology they used. Thor certainly hadn't seemed to be particularly knowledgable on the subject when Bruce had asked him the last time he was in New York but he was a warrior, he relied for the most part on sheer strength to solve things. Maybe Loki was just reluctant to tell. Bruce didn't really blame him; why would he trust a guy who'd literally beaten him into the ground?

The apartment was silent as they both drank more of the coffee, Loki leant against the obviously-expensive bar Tony had put in the apartment and Bruce still sat on the sofa. The scientist had to admit that for a man who'd presumably never made any in his life, never mind out of thin air, the demigod was good at coffee.

"Why are you avoiding it?" Bruce said finally.

"Avoiding what?" Loki said, tilting his head slightly.

"Last night." Bruce said through gritted teeth.

"I don't see what there is to avoid. You stopped yourself before anything could happen."

"Exactly."

Loki started to say something then stopped. "You are embarrassed."

"Wouldn't you be? I can't even kiss without almost turning into a  _ monster _ ."

"You realise that on Asgard they would fight for your abilities?"

"They can have them for free if they can get that bastard out of me." He said with a bitter laugh.

"That is not what I meant."

"I know."

"You're a 'hero'." Loki said with a sarcastic smirk, walking across the room towards Bruce. "Isn't it only a small price to pay for helping people?"

"Oh god, now you sound like Steve." Bruce sighed. "Everyone benefits from it _except_ _me_. I'm trapped, used, because I'm cheaper to get a hold of than a nuclear bomb. I'm not a hero. I wanted to change the world from the lab, not the front line."

"I'll let you in on a secret, Bruce." The demigod said quietly, placing his mug on the coffee table and leaning towards him.

"What?"

He leant even closer until his lips were almost touching Bruce's ear. "I'm not a hero either."

Bruce flinched away, this time far less impressed than the last. No matter how much he hated to admit it, he was scared.

"I can't do that again."

"Why not?"

"You... I..." He stammered, trying to find the words. "Someone'll get hurt. I can't live with that."

"No-one will get hurt."

"I'll change. There's nothing I can do to stop myself from killing you."

"I can stop you. Or him, no matter which side of your persona you're referring to." He said with a smirk.

"You can't."

"You know I can slow your heart, I have done already."

"And you would?"

"If you let me."

"That's not what I meant."

Loki tilted his head questioningly.

"We both know you only kissed me as a distraction."

"Your point being what, exactly?"

"How could someone like you ever find me attractive?"

"How could anyone  _ not _ ?" He whispered, one hand now resting on Bruce's leg.

Bruce looked down. He was wearing an old shirt, wrinkled from sleep, even older slacks and he knew that, having only just woken up, his naturally curly hair would be all over the place. He ran a hand through it self-consciously, unused to compliments on his looks. Bruce knew his age didn't help either, even if he was only in his early forties and the demigod was probably thousands of years older than that, he was the only one who's hair was starting to grey.

"Not even you can lie about that."

"I rather thought I was being serious." Loki said quietly. The hand not on Bruce's thigh reached up and touched his cheek. When Bruce made no attempt to move his hand, Loki leant forwards and kissed him. This time was slower, deeper. The pale hand on Bruce's face slid up to his dark hair again, fingers tangling in the curls.

It took what felt like a blissful forever for Bruce to respond, biting the demigod's lip. He let his hands stray from his sides and over Loki's body. Loki was still too thin under the expensive clothes Tony had bought him but he was still a lot stronger than Bruce, holding him against the sofa with minimal effort. Loki flinched slightly as Bruce touched the cursed scar tissue on his back.

He pulled away slightly and spoke breathlessly in a voice low enough to almost be a growl. "Do you believe me now?"

"Yes," Bruce whispered.


	15. Chapter 15

Loki leant in to kiss him again then grabbed Bruce's wrists and pulled him upright. His lips strayed from Bruce's, moving down to kiss his neck while he unbuttoned the rest of the scientist's shirt that hadn't come undone while he slept. Bruce seemed at a loss of what to do, Loki noticed, vaguely amused.

As his hands trailed over Bruce's now-bare chest, he felt that one of his collarbones was more prominent than the other and slightly higher. It had been broken at some point, badly by the way it felt, then healed crudely and ineffectively, very unlike what he'd seen of this part of Midgard in the recent past. He'd been beaten, obviously not recently, but he undoubtably had. Loki didn't say a word about it. Everyone had their scars.

Bruce shivered slightly as Loki's hands slowly moved up the inside of his thighs. Loki smirked slightly and stood up straight, pulling away from Bruce quickly.

"Now," The demigod whispered with a mischievous look. "I think you mentioned something about leaving this apartment and possibly purchasing new clothes?"

Bruce didn't answer straight away. His breathing was ragged and Loki could tell he'd been starting to get aroused, even though Loki had barely started yet.

Somehow, he hadn't thought the scientist would be as easy to control. However, it seemed that everyone was a slave to their instincts eventually and Loki turned manipulation into an art form. Always leave the... Well, the victim wanting more. That way when it came to the time he needed something, he could give it to them.

Most of Loki's life had been spent finding ways of showing power over the people around him, no matter how weak he actually felt. Growing up around Thor and his friends, it was that or be beaten up even worse than he already had been.

And it worked, he considered as Bruce finally stuttered out a reply. The Avenger was wrapped around his finger now, giving in like that. For the first time after doing something like this, a feeling welled in the pit of Loki's stomach. It was slight, barely there in fact but he still recognised it. Guilt. He was exploiting one of the two people responsible for saving his life, the only reasons he was safe.

He did his best to dismiss it. It didn't matter really; if he even just had Bruce on his side, he was far less likely to be thrown out of the Tower. He couldn't let emotions control his judgement. Not yet, at least.

 

-

 

Thor seemed pretty happy about their victory as usual. He was wandering around he room to each of the Avengers between the other people Tony had invited and repeatedly congratulating all of them. Then again the party had been going on for a few hours and the demigod had drunk enough to make even the most hardened human alcoholic to pass out. Tony guessed drinks must be stronger on Asgard. The livers of its inhabitants definitely seemed to be.

Tony finally cornered the demigod when he returned to the kitchen to get a drink. He'd been dreading this but he guessed he had to do it eventually, and any chance of Thor not remembering the conversation in the morning needed to be taken.

"I've kind of been wondering," Tony said, getting out a beer for himself and handing Thor one. "What happened to your brother?"

"There's no danger of him returning here, Stark, if that is what you're thinking."

"I wasn't." Tony said. Fear. Of course even Thor would have got to that conclusion pretty quickly. Tony hadn't exactly broadcast the fact that New York had given him some kind of PTSD but his teammates knew, whether they'd been told by Pepper or Rhodey or just worked it out for themselves. "Just curious."

"He's in the cells. He will be for the rest of his days." Thor said, with a sigh.

"And you haven't gone to visit him or anything?"

"I haven't seen him since father agreed to lock him up instead of simply killing him."

"You told your dad, king of the gods, not to kill your brother? And he  _ listened _ ?"

"No, he listened to mother. At this point I cannot pretend that I care of Loki's fate, Stark. He betrayed me too many times. If he no longer considers me his brother, I will do the same."

Tony nodded. He hadn't really expected anything better than that. Doctor Foster had told him that there was a point just after the Avengers' first battle as a team when he'd spent a significant amount of time in the scientist's apartment sulking, then come to that conclusion.

It wasn't that Loki had asked him about Thor. Actually the fallen prince had done his best to avoid the subject, at least around Tony, but Tony still got the impression that Loki wanted to know what Thor thought of him now. He didn't have any links to his former home other than a few scars now and Tony guessed that after a few centuries living in the same place, you were likely to be kind of attached, to say the least.

"How long has it been since your were on Asgard, anyway?" Tony asked as casually as he could. Regardless of the way he said it, Thor didn't seem suspicious. Too drunk by this point, presumably.

"A month. Jane has been showing me around London." He looked fairly amused by that. The capital city had probably changed a lot since the last time he'd been. Less wooden buildings, Tony considered, although probably the same amount of shit in the streets in certain areas.

"I thought you were in New Mexico?" Tony said, changing the subject but not really listening to Thor's long winded answer beyond the fact that Jane had moved to England for a fresh start with new data and, Tony suspected, to be far enough away from the main branches of SHIELD to get away with it.

It meant that Thor hadn't been directly involved in Loki's worst punishments, at least, not that Tony had thought he had been in the first place. But the torture had been going on since they'd taken the younger demigod to the cell on Asgard and Tony struggled to believe he genuinely didn't know that  _ anything _ had been happening to his brother. Thor wasn't exactly the best liar but he couldn't have been completely ignorant. Rumours travelled fast, no matter where you were from.

Tony decided he'd have to look further into it. But not tonight. Tonight was for celebrating. Wait. Not 'tonight', Tony realised, looking vaguely at his watch, then out of the window, then blinking a few times. It was 'this morning' now. The Avengers (minus Bruce) had been drinking for about thirteen hours.

Pepper was going to kill him. That was a whole new problem and way worse than Asgardian torture methods.


	16. Chapter 16

Bruce had insisted on walking to the stores he'd mentioned. Loki accepted that without a complaint. It was some sort of payback for his actions earlier that morning, he guessed, although it wasn't entirely unpleasant. The sky was bright and clear today, unlike the other times he'd been outside when there'd been more clouds threatening more snow. Now the remaining slush and piles of gravel-filled ice on the sides of the roads were melting on a day that was more fresh than cold.

Loki hadn't bothered to cast a glamour to stop the humans from seeing who he was. No-one in a city like this would him a second glance as he walked with Bruce. The same applied to scientist. They just seemed like normal mortals in a crowd of even more normal mortals. It was a rather peculiar experience. The last time he'd been on any of the streets they'd been down, he was fairly sure he'd been on a Chitauri vehicle above it, although most of that part of him being controlled before Barton had blown him up was too blurred to decipher. There had been a lot more screaming, he knew that much. Now it was as if none of it had happened, something he'd been wishing, no,  _ praying _ could have been true.

From what he understood, a lot of Bruce's experiences of the city had been fairly similar, with screaming and memory loss, but, unlike Loki who'd practically invited himself to be possessed, it hadn't been the doctor's fault. That didn't seem to stop him looking tense, if somewhat sidetracked.

"I'm not going to flee, if that is the root of your worries."

Bruce looked up. "What?"

"There's nowhere on this realm I could hide, even if I wanted to."

Bruce shook his head ."That wasn't what I was thinking about. Good to know though, I guess."

"What  _ were _ you thinking about?"

Bruce shrugged slightly, a mildly embarrassed look forming on his face.

Loki hid a smug look. Now he knew.

The scientist didn't try to speak again, back to being deep in his thoughts, whether those be thoughts about Loki or whatever he and Stark were currently working on. Loki knew what it  _ probably _ was but he had to admit that the scientist was hard to read, even to him. It was another thing that intrigued him about Bruce. Barely anyone could hide anything from him. The majority of the people on Asgard had stopped so much as trying.

Bruce stopped abruptly in front of the entrance to a building after another few minutes walking.

"And what would this place be?"

"A store." Bruce said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd guessed that part." He said, looking at the mannequins in the window.

"Well, I figured since Tony lent me his credit card for this, we might as well spend some of his money."

"He won't mind?"

"He has more than his  _ grandkids _ 'll ever be able to spend. I doubt he'll even notice."

Loki nodded, a slight smirk of realisation forming on his face. "And you say Stark  _ lent _ you this card?"

"Well," Bruce frowned slightly and started walking into the shop. "I guess he probably would've done if I'd asked him."

Loki followed him, still smirking. "I fear I may have underestimated you, Bruce. You have far less morals than I'd thought."

Bruce hesitated. "Wait, was that a compliment or...?"

Loki shrugged. "You can take it any way you wish. Personally I'd go with compliment."

Bruce smiled. "Then thanks, I think."

It even  _ smelt _ expensive in this place, but not in the way he was used to. Expensive back on Asgard meant good quality; magical armour, something that would protect from the bad winters. Apparently Midgard had different ideas about what constituted value.

"What is this?" Loki said, poking at what may have been a shirt with a mildly confused expression.

"Fashion." Bruce said. He adjusted his glasses and narrowed his eyes. "I  _ think _ ."

They spent a while looking but Loki had determined from the shirt that this place wouldn't have anything that would look good on a malnourished Frost Giant. He still rather preferred the clothes bought for him by Stark. T-shirts made sense, even if they were plainer and simpler that anything else the demigod was used to wearing.

"Look," Bruce said finally. "D'you want to get out of here and go for coffee?"

"Definitely." Loki said before he'd even finished.

"Then maybe we can find somewhere that sells shirts cheaper than six months rent in Calcutta."

"That sounds like an excellent idea."

Bruce smiled slightly. "I guess there's a first time for everything."


	17. Chapter 17

Loki lay in bed.

They'd gotten back to the Tower a few hours ago. After they'd had coffee, Bruce had found a store that wouldn't spend the majority of Stark's apparently vast amount of money. Bruce had decided that it was a better idea to go home while Romanov, Barton and Rogers were most likely at SHIELD, doing whatever non-Avengers work they did instead of leaving it until there was a tower full of heroes for Loki to avoid and he'd agreed. Although Loki wouldn't exactly have minded staying in Stark's other apartment for a few more nights. He was more or less free to wander around there, and had for much of the night after his dreams had awoken him. He hadn't left even, although he'd had the chance to both last night and that morning. For reasons he wasn't even sure off himself yet, he didn't want to leave.

But now he was tired, trying to catch up on some lost sleep despite the fact that it was about half way through the afternoon. As much as he hated to admit it, Bruce had been right. Trying to sleep when he was still suppressing shakes from his nightmares had been a terrible idea. He'd barely slept, as usual. He'd rather hoped Bruce would have taken him up on his offer but the scientist hadn't. Obviously. Up until Loki had told him differently, he'd still thought he'd transform. Maybe now... No. It was too much to hope for that Bruce would come up here for  _ that reason _ , at least not of his own accord, and even Loki drew the line at controlling people for that.

However, Loki had managed to sleep for a while, fairly successfully with fewer dreams than usual. up until a few minutes ago, that was. Then yelling from somewhere nearby had woken him. The demigod finally stood up and stretched. He very quietly left his room and walked out into the corridor, the shouting getting louder as he padded towards Stark's workshop.

"Steve told me. There was someone here all week!" A woman's voice. She sounded furious. Presumably, this was Pepper Potts' voice. Despite the research Thanos had done on Stark while controlling the demigod, Loki was yet to hear her speak.

"Only for one night!"

"So there  _ was _ a woman with you?" Another layer of betrayal and anger was added.

"Yes. No. Not a woman."

"A  _ man _ ? Oh, that makes it  _ so _ much better!"

Loki walked to the workshop door as more furious accusations filtered through.

"No, I've had enough of your excuses! This is  _ bullshit _ , Tony!"

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, Miss Potts," Loki said, stepping into the room and almost walking straight into the fuming CEO. It was normally his policy not to get involved in disputes like this but since he was the reason a man who'd saved his life was in trouble, he assumed it was his duty to get involved. "But I seem to have caused some form of misunderstanding between you and Mr Stark."

Potts looked up at him, frozen for a few seconds, then slapped him hard across the face. " _ Him _ ?"

Loki raised a hand to his face, gingerly touching his stinging cheek but didn't dare say another word. She recognised him, he should have known she would, his face would have been all over the Midgardian news...

"You slept with that son of a bitch?" Or maybe she didn't. Apparently this was simply the regular type of rage at the suspicion of adultery, as opposed to the very specific 'sleeping-with-someone-who-tried-to-destroy-the-planet' type. She raised her hand to slap him again and Loki raised his arm defensively. Potts' stopped just short of hitting him, eyes on the recent scars still covering his arm.

"As I was saying," Loki said quietly, carefully stepping back from the hand still poised to hit him again. "I seem to have caused a misunderstanding. I'm a friend of Doctor Banner's. I was," he paused for a split second, searching for a plausible reason for his presence on this realm then making his voice suitably weaker. "In a car accident. Tony and Bruce offered to let me stay here whilst I recover."

Potts looked shocked for a moment then turned to glare at Stark. "Is that true?"

He almost seemed speechless at the demigod's seamless lying but managed to nod after a few seconds. "He was sleeping on the sofa while I was getting his room ready."

Potts turned to Loki and he nodded. She seemed to consider it for a moment. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were... That Tony had..."

"There's no need for you to apologise, Miss Potts. From what Bruce has told me, you have every right to be suspicious, just from experience working for  _ Tony _ ." He smiled, giving an apologetic look.

"Not going to say sorry to me?"

Potts glared at him and Stark looked away sheepishly. Stark shot Loki an evil look over her shoulder the second she turned back to him.

"No, really, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I'm just not really used to Tony being  _ nice _ ."

Loki smirked. "It was Bruce, mostly."

"That's less of a surprise."

"Well, I'm not saying he isn't a good man too." He said, looking directly at Stark. "If it's all the same to you, I would appreciate you not telling Captain Rogers or my br... Thor or the others. I doubt they'd approve of me staying here without a full background check."

Potts nodded and Loki noticed the barely disguised eye role. Apparently at least one of the other Avengers genuinely did want background checks on guests. It was slightly over the top, he considered, but seeing as he had gotten into the Tower himself, maybe it wasn't an entirely bad idea.

"Now if you don't mind, Miss Potts, I'm going back to my room." He smiled charismatically. "I'm sorry if I intruded."

He turned and opened the door, making sure to limp slightly as he went back into the corridor and hoping that he wasn't laying it on too thickly. He doubted it. Even Stark had looked like he was close to believing that latest fiction. Speaking of which, he heard the billionaire give an excuse and wander into the corridor behind him.

"Good job back there." Stark grinned.

Loki shrugged. "I've been informed that I was thought to be the god of lying. While that's  _ greatly _ exaggerated, I've had a large amount of experience in these situations."

Stark grinned at him.

"I did not mean  _ that _ ," Loki protested then paused thoughtfully. A small smirk formed on his face. "Although..."

Stark laughed. "Had to explain yourself to angry husbands?"

"And wives. And parents. And offspring. And on one occasion the particularly furious owner of a stable," Loki winced slightly. "But I'd rather not recount that last story. Besides, most of what I said to Miss Potts was withholding the truth, not an outright lie."

"Because car accidents and medieval torture are exactly the same thing."

"It is, however, far more believable than if I'd said 'good morning Miss Potts, I'm a disgraced prince staying with your partner and Doctor Banner because they and their friends had me incarcerated in an Asgardian dungeon'."

"Was that  _ irony _ from the God of Angst?"

Loki smirked again, raising an eyebrow. "Unbelievably, you're not the only realm to have invented sarcasm, even if my brother still struggles to understand it."

"I'm still in shock that you come programmed with emotions other than smugness and anger."

"You know Stark, I could say the same about you."


	18. Chapter 18

It was late now but Loki had slept enough. Or if not enough, at least more than the few short hours he'd become accustomed to, even if Stark had woken him several times to ask if he wanted anything to eat, which he didn't, or inform him that the other Avengers had just returned from SHIELD. He flicked through the channels on the small television opposite the bed in his tiny room, mildly intrigued that humans had managed to invent such a device without magic, although the main thing that caused his curiosity was how it was possible for there to be so many programmes on so many channels and not have a single one with anything he found even remotely interesting. Half of the channels seemed to be showing footage of The Avengers on the rescue mission from earlier in the week and, despite his recent reconciliation with Bruce and Stark, Loki could definitely do without watching them all working together like they had when he'd ended up beaten into the floor of this very tower, even if he had deserved it. And he'd never received that drink he'd been offered. Maybe he'd ask Stark about that at some point. It was unlikely the two separate offers he'd received would have been withdrawn. He was running low on ideas of how to stay in the Man of Iron's good books and wondered if alcohol would help give him a few new ones.

He sighed slightly, turning off the television and lying back against the headboard of the bed. He was almost glad to have been left alone, even if it was just an illusion of solitude. He had no doubt Stark was watching, or at least JARVIS was, but he needed to at least think he was alone to be able to think. And at this moment in time he had a lot of thoughts to sort through. He'd distracted himself from them for long enough.

He hadn't believed he could feel any affection, or any kind of positive feeling, towards anyone any more. Apparently he could because right now he wanted nothing more than to be with Bruce. Not even kissing him or touching the perfectly imperfect body that the scientist hid under long sleeved shirts, just  _ with _ him, around him. It was quite an intriguing feeling, Loki had to admit. A mixture curiosity and attraction. Now he just had to decide what to  _ do _ with the rare emotions.

Logic suggested simply ignoring them. He could leave at any time if he desired to. And he did, didn't he? Loki could easily build a new life; while he didn't remember exact names or details, the demigod knew there were hundreds of organisations and  _ thousands _ of individuals who'd be willing to give him a new identity just to spite Fury and the rest of SHIELD. He could certainly make a living here, he understood that information could provide quite a lucrative business on Midgard and he'd always been good at getting secrets out of people. He'd never exactly be a prince again but...

And the 'but' was the thing, really. He was closer to 'happy' here than he had been anywhere for years, maybe centuries if he looked back, even though he was, for all intents and purposes, a prisoner. If he fled the only reason he'd ever see Bruce again would be when SHIELD eventually found out about existence on Midgard (because the gods knew they would eventually) and sent the Avengers after him for a second time. If he fled he'd give up on a slim, pointless chance to actually  _ live _ on this planet, not just  _ survive _ as he had done recently no matter what realm he'd been on.

Loki had no idea how long he'd been sat thinking when there was a knock on the door. He stood up, a glare prepared for Stark just ready to appear on his face.

He didn't have time to hide the expression before he saw it was Bruce stood in the doorway.

He looked away from Loki's pre-prepared glare. "I... I was thinking about earlier. What you said yesterday morning."

"Which part?" Loki said quietly, allowing his expression to soften slightly when he'd determined that Stark was nowhere to be seen.

"The part about me not turning into the Other Guy.

A slight smirk formed on Loki's face. "The part where we kissed?"

Bruce nodded with a look of acute embarrassment.

Loki stepped back gesturing the doctor into the room.

"Uh..."

The demigod raised an eyebrow. "I assume that, no matter what your actual intentions here may be, you'd rather Stark didn't hear them from his workshop."

"You'd assume right. The guy has freakishly good hearing for things he isn't supposed to know."

"I'd noticed." Loki said carefully, knowing that he has exactly the same skill, although most likely for different reasons.

The demigod almost wished he'd cleaned up the room a little. It wasn't a hideous mess but the bed was unmade and there were a few shirts and books he'd borrowed from Stark on one of the chairs. He waved a hand behind him, the things on the the chair moving into the bottom of the closet and spreading the sheets straight across the bed.

Magic was an infinitely useful thing to have, he considered as Bruce wandered in slowly. It was probably the first time he'd entered the room since Loki had 'moved in' to the tower and he was obviously curious.

"So," Loki said softly, stepping in close to the scientist before he could get distracted. "You were thinking..."

Bruce looked up at him and attempted to speak, stuttering slightly then just giving up. Loki tilted his head very slightly to look down at the doctor, trying to decipher the look on his face. Bruce smiled slightly for a second then stood up straighter and kissed him. Loki was shocked for a second. He hadn't expected that. He'd thought that Bruce had come here to tell him that he'd been mistaken before. Loki smirked inwardly before he reacted, bending down to Bruce's level and allowing himself to be dragged down onto the bed. No time for words this time around. He didn't want his lips away from Bruce for that long, either.

Bruce pulled away from him for a second. "You know Tony put cameras in here?"

Loki shrugged. Did know, didn't particularly care, but if Bruce didn't want to be seen...

"Do you want me to turn them off?" He said breathlessly.

Bruce shrugged back, also beyond the point of caring. Loki grinned and waved, the cameras going off without him even particularly trying. The demigod trailed away from Bruce's lips, moving down his neck and down to his badly healed collarbone, an injury intrigued Loki for reasons he couldn't quite understand. If Bruce noticed his shirt had been banished to the other side of the room without Loki even touching it, he didn't say anything, now lying on the bed as Loki kept moving further down his body, legs twisting around Loki's waist. Loki felt a shiver run through the doctor's whole body as the caressing reached his hips. Loki looked up for a few seconds, licking his lips slowly. Now for the fun part.


	19. Chapter 19

Bruce could still feel most of the bones jutting out from Loki's skin as he was held to the bed. If it were anyone else in this state, Bruce would have been afraid he'd break something if he wasn't gentle but Loki was still so much stronger than him even like this. Pale, elegant hands that could just as easily have snapped his neck traced every individual scar and blemish on the scientist's body. Cool lips made their way across him, each kiss sending a glorious shiver up his spine, even more so as Loki moved further down. He looked up at Bruce and licked his lips. Loki slid out from the legs around his waist, hands barely pausing in their examination of every inch of his body as he shifted. His smile widened as Bruce completely froze when the hands moved further, long fingers trailing over his hip bones as Loki's lips moved even lower...

Bruce moaned quietly in what started off as Loki's name but turned into an inhuman sound of pure pleasure as the demigod's lips finally came in contact with his cock.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" He whispered, voice barely loud enough to hear, looking up just long enough to smile at Bruce.

"Yeah," Bruce managed, his own voice even lower, another wordless moan escaping his lips as Loki's long tongue moved up his shaft slowly.

As Loki moved his head, Bruce started to rock his hips in time, the rhythms of their bodies speeding up until Bruce cried out Loki's name and came in the demigod's mouth.

Loki sat back and swallowed, smirking like he was making a point.

Bruce lay back, breathing heavily with his heart pounding in his ears, somehow still slow enough to keep him the right shape. Loki lay next to him, eyes still bright and still hungry as he watched Bruce through the darkness of the room. He licked his lips slowly and smudged blood that had started welling around his lips onto his face.

Bruce pulled away and Loki looked at him questioningly.

"Too rough?" He whispered with a smirk.

Bruce shook his head, leaning in again to look at the freshly torn pierce-marks around Loki's lips on some morbid fascination. "You're bleeding."

Loki looked confused for a second then raised a hand to his mouth. He stared at the blood from his torn lips. Loki cursed quietly in Asgardian and sat up, moving to the other end of the bed. He wiped his chin off with the back if his hand and leaned back, looking away from Bruce.

"Sorry." He said quietly. That sounded like embarrassment, an unusual emotion for the demigod.

Bruce shifted over to him, resting his head on Loki's shoulder.

"It's not your fault." the scientist murmured in his ear, sliding his hand between Loki's thighs. "Just means I'll be the one using my mouth for a while."

Slowly the guilt disappeared from Loki's face to be replaced by an even more smug version of his usual smirk. "A while?"

"Well, yeah, I'd kinda hoped so." He said, trying and failing to hide his embarrassment.

The smirk split into a grin. Loki shifted closer, long legs intertwining with Bruce's and somehow managing to pin him to the bed again. "I can agree to that."

 

-

 

For a second, Bruce had no idea where he was when he woke up. The room was still fairly dark, only the slightest light filtering in through a crack under the door and the glow of the sun rising through the draped over the window. There was barely a sound aside from his own breathing and someone else's much quieter whispers of breath. Loki's, Bruce realised now. The scientist smiled quietly to himself now. Loki had been right, it had been a long time, too long.

Bruce rolled over slowly to face the demigod.

Loki was lying on his side, head resting on one scarred arm, watching Bruce silently, seeming to study every detail of his face. The scientist wondered how long he'd been lying like that, if he'd just been lying completely still, watching him sleep all night. Bruce hadn't felt him moving at all, not like when they were still at Tony's when he was barely still in his nightmares. Maybe he hadn't even bothered sleeping.

"Good morning." The demigod said softly, smiling slightly as Bruce yawned and stretched stiffly.

"Morning," Bruce whispered, stifling another yawn as Loki shifted closer to him.

He didn't speak again for a while, just appreciating the silence and space he was sharing with Loki, a man he should never have had the luck to sleep with.

"What time is it?" He said finally, knowing he'd have to leave the warm bed eventually.

Loki turned to look at the clock on the nightstand. "Six."

Bruce slowly sat up and stretched again.

"In a hurry?" Loki said, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow resting his head on Bruce's chest.

"I want to get back downstairs before anyone sees me up here."

"Embarrassed?" Loki smirked.

Bruce didn't speak for a few seconds. "Maybe."

"You could always stay here..." Loki whispered, finger tracing unknown patterns and words over Bruce's chest. "With me... All day..."

Bruce sighed quietly in a way the clearly suggested he wanted nothing more that to do exactly that. "Tony's expecting me to finish some research.

"Fine" The demigod sighed dramatically. "I suppose that must also be important."

He sat up slightly, purposely rubbing his still naked body against Bruce as he did so, and kissed Bruce's shoulder so lightly he barely felt it. He did it again and again until he reached the curve of the doctor's neck then sucked at the skin, teeth scraping over it. When he pulled away again, Bruce could feel the mark forming and touched it slightly nervously.

Loki smirked. "I thought I'd leave you a small reminder of what you could have been doing today, Bruce."


	20. Chapter 20

Bruce finally left Loki's room with more than a slight amount of reluctance, adjusting his shirt again to hide the bite on his neck and hoping to get back down to his own floor before anyone else had noticed he'd gone.

"Morning Doctor Banner."

Or not. He turned around and smiled despite how nervous he really was. "Good morning, Agent Romanov."

"Sleep up here tonight?" She asked. Her voice pleasant and relaxed but Bruce knew that she was using one of her interrogation techniques on him. He really wished she'd stop doing that to people  _ on their side _ , even if he actually did have something to hide this time.

"Worked late. I was too tired to walk all the way downstairs so I slept in Tony's guest room."

Natasha looked relatively satisfied by that explanation. "Thought you guys never slept?"

"Tony doesn't," Bruce shrugged. "But we don't all have blood that must be about ninety percent caffeine by now."

She allowed herself a small smirk. "We've both worked with him. It's more than that."

"Probably." He smiled slightly. "Why are you up so early? New mission?"

"Debriefing for the last one." She said, continuing in a more skeptical tone. "We have to leave in about a minute to get back to Washington on time."

"I guess that's not gonna happen then."

"Depends if Clint can get his ass up here. I think he went out with Thor last night." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"And he's still alive?"

"Maybe. Not for much longer if Fury finds out that we're late because he's hungover."

"Tony gets away with it."

"Only because Fury couldn't get away with having him shot."

Bruce smiled despite the fact she was probably telling the truth. "I'm going to head downstairs and get some breakfast. Good look with the not getting killed thing."

 

-

 

Bruce was distracted this morning, basically ignoring some work he'd barely been able to look away from for almost a month. That was the obvious part, now Tony just had to work out  _ what  _ was distracting him.

Not the anniversary of his accident, that was in a few months. Tony didn't really bother remembering dates, Pepper was way better at that stuff, neither did he ever really go for the whole sympathy thing, but it was hard to forget last year. It wasn't that Tony didn't sort of understand, but he'd made a mental note to take Bruce out for drinks this year to try and cheer him up. But it definitely wasn't that right now. Bruce looked... Well, kind of happy, and not just in his regular, sort of empty way he'd had the whole time Tony had known him.

The billionaire finally looked up from his computer to focus his full attention on interrogating his friend.

"You're cheerful this morning,"

Bruce blinked, snapping out of another day dream. "What?"

"What happened to you last night?"

"Oh. Nothing, really."

Tony grinned. Time to be less subtle. "Did you finally get laid?"

"Uh, no." He protested a little too quickly.

That was a total lie. Tony was probably the world's leading expert on that sort of lie, except for maybe the demigod living down the hall. "So I guess you gave yourself that thing on your neck?"

Bruce looked even more embarrassed, desperately trying to pull his collar straighter. "Its not that noticeable, is it?"

Tony shrugged. "Not unless you're looking for it."

"Would Natasha have been looking?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm pretty sure Romanov thinks you're a virgin."

The scientist looked half relieved, half offended.

"So. Spill."

"There isn't really much to say..."

"Come  _ on _ ," Tony said with an exaggerated eye roll and an amused smirk. "Who was it? Anyone I know? A girl? A guy? Both?"

"Jesus, Tony"

"Tell me and I'll shut up."

Bruce looked at him pointedly. "No you won't."

"Well no. But I won't ask all these annoying questions again if you answer them. So, who?"

"No-one you know..."

"I know lots of people." Tony interrupted.

"You don't know him."

"Oh, so it was a guy." Tony grinned triumphantly. Now he was getting somewhere.

"Yes. Wait, no..."

Another eye roll. "Bruce, I have slept with a  _ lot _ of people and not all of them have been beautiful women."

"Yeah, some of them have just been moderately attractive women."

Tony just smirked. "And let only one gender have the sex god that is Tony Fucking Stark?"

"You're serious?"

The billionaire's face turned serious. "I never joke about my own promiscuity, Bruce. I'm in a committed relationship now but the rest of the world needs to know."

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"It's a burden, Bruce, knowing that whole generations will not get to sleep with me." He said, voice as devastated as he could make it, hand on his chest.

So, he knew more now. JARVIS told him every time someone entered or left the residential floors of Tower after certain times and Bruce had been working up until then so unless this mystery guy had been in the tower all day, he had to be an Avenger.

"So, back to your night... Was it Steve?"

Bruce choked, spraying coffee all over, including on Tony.

"I'll take that as a no."

"You think?"

"Hey, no need to take personal offence. I've just always got those vibes off him."

"God no."

"Never mind then. Clint?"

Bruce raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure he and Natasha are having weird, kinky, unspeakable assassin sex but a few rumours went around about him and Coulson before he died so..." Tony trailed off as he noticed Bruce was still staring at him. "Okay, so that leaves me, and I'm pretty sure I would've remembered that, and... Oh my god, it was Thor, wasn't it?"

"Tony, this is just getting ridiculous."

"Don't tell me you've got something better to do." He raised an eyebrow suggestively. "He isn't one of us, then. Who else?"

"Tony-"

"They'd have to climb or fly up here. Maybe that spider kid Fury keeps trying to recuit?"

"Tony,  _ please _ ."

"Fine." The billionaire sighed dramatically then grinned. "But don't think I won't find out eventually."


	21. Chapter 21

Bruce looked around the corridor to see if Tony was watching. He'd already bribed JARVIS with various system updates and all the other things Tony could never be bothered to do so the AI wouldn't tell Tony about where he was in the Tower. Tony always  _ had _ to know everything people didn't want him to. Since he didn't know one of Bruce's most important secrets at the moment and he didn't literally seem to be following Bruce around the tower, the scientist guessed Tony was probably going through his underwear drawer or doing something equally intrusive by now.

There was no sign of Tony but Bruce wandered over to his workshop, glancing around inside to make sure the billionaire definitely wasn't there. He wasn't taking any chances, not yet; he wasn't even sure what he was doing himself and if Tony found out he'd most likely never let it go. The scientist wasn't sure he could take those kinda of taunts yet. Tony being okay about his sexuality and not relentlessly teasing him if he found out Loki was involved were two very different things.

Bruce opened Loki's door as silently as he could and stepped inside, closing it again behind him. The demigod was sat on his bed, long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle. He looked up from one of the books Tony had lent him, closing it and leaning forward.

"I take it you reconsidered my offer?" He raised an eyebrow.

Bruce adjusted his glasses and smiled slightly. "Maybe."

"Or perhaps Stark was taunting you to an unbearable level?"

"That might have helped." He admitted reluctantly.

Loki flashed him a brief smirk. "It's your hair that gives it away."

"Yeah, that's what Tony said."

"I suppose Stark is an expert on these matters." Loki shrugged, seeming slightly amused by the idea.

"He says he is. Somehow I don't think he knows as much as you."

Loki closed his book and stood up slowly, a suggestive smirk on his face. He walked over to Bruce, bare feet not making a sound on the floor.

"You know me so well already." He whispered, so close Bruce could feel his cool breath against his ear.

The doctor turned and stood up straighter, leaning in to kiss him.

"You don't exactly keep that part a secret." He breathed.

 

-

 

It was late now. Or more likely it was early, Loki considered.

Bruce was still in bed next to him, despite the encounter with Romanov he'd had the previous morning. They were both awake this time instead of falling asleep almost immediately and, up until a few minutes ago, Bruce had still had that small, satisfied smile on his face. Now he was staring at the ceiling, obviously thinking.

"Tony  _ is _ going to find out about this, you know that?" He said finally after another few minutes of silence, sounding slightly apprehensive about how Loki might react to that. The way he'd said 'this' was like he didn't know what it was yet. Loki was fine with that, he didn't either.

"If I minded, I would never have kissed you in the first place." Loki shrugged. He didn't want Stark to know  _ yet _ , that was true, but he wasn't as afraid as Bruce was. He could handle anything Stark could throw at him, he had endured all manner of verbal abuse for all his life. Loki imagined Bruce probably had too, at least in the last few years, but while Loki's experiences had turned him calloused and sarcastic, the doctor seemed far more sensitive and nervous about these things. It wasn't as if he didn't have his reasons for that. Perhaps it wasn't just past experience making Loki more confident about this situation anyway. It definitely wasn't his usual apathy, his thoughts the previous night had proven that. He already cared about Bruce for some unknown reason. He refused to look any further into that emotion now, it was enough to know he still had the remnants of a soul left over.

"Good." Bruce said quietly with a small smile. He stood up, pulling on his pants and shirt.

"Where are you going?" Loki whispered, sitting up. He already knew the answer to the question but it would have seemed harsh not to even ask.

"Back to my apartment. It's easier to explain walking around the tower at night than first thing in the morning wearing the same clothes as the night before. "

Loki nodded, trying not to look too disappointed.

"It's probably closer to morning by now but I'm gonna say good night anyway."

"Same time tomorrow?" The demigod said with a smirk.

Bruce stretched and opened the door, then turned back and smiled. "Sounds good."


	22. Chapter 22

It was almost two months since Loki had been banished now. His wounds were all healed, whether by magic or time, even the holes around his lips reduced to tiny dots of scar tissue. It was still only a few weeks (which felt more like as many minutes) since the night he'd kissed Bruce and the events that followed shortly after. Those weeks had been spent sneaking around when the other Avengers were asleep, mostly with Loki coming down to Bruce's floor after the first few times; the demigod found sneaking between floors before or after far easier with the amount of experience he'd had avoiding notice, but occasionally the other way around. Bruce hadn't wanted to risk either of them staying since the first time when he'd nearly been caught by Natasha. There were some times when it had been easier; Rogers had returned to SHIELD and Agents Romanov and Barton often accompanied him on whatever 'top secret' missions he was sent on. Loki had overheard a conversation between them and Stark and they were apparently considering leaving New York completely in favour of another city, closer to where they received their orders. That would be a relief to say the least, the three of them were by far the greatest risk to his life if he was discovered.

The time Loki and Bruce spent together wasn't just sex any more, no matter how good those parts were, and Loki didn't admit to such a thing lightly. Some nights they just sat there in one of the rooms, watching more of the movies that Stark had told him he needed to see or ordered takeout. Loki wasn't sure if he'd ever been in anything that could really be classed as a relationship before but he imagined this was what one probably felt like.

Back to the present moment, they were both in Bruce's bedroom. Loki sat up reluctantly, vaguely dreading having to drag himself out of the warm bed. He'd have to wander cautiously up to the higher floors because all the Avengers were in tonight. He wasn't looking forward to using the freezing service stairs when he already felt this cold just getting out of bed.

"Sounds like there are people still awake." Bruce said quietly, rolling over to stare at the ceiling. Loki hadn't heard anything but shrugged and flashed him a smirk.

"I will be careful."

Bruce hesitated. "Actually, I sort of meant that you could stay here for a while longer."

"And you want that?"

"Yeah." He paused again. "If you do."

Loki lay back down. He  _ did _ want to, and not just to avoid the walking around the tower. He shuffled across the bed back towards Bruce, glad of the opportunity just to spend another night closer to him. His nightmares weren't as frequent when they were together and even when they inevitably happened, the dreams that had woken him up screaming didn't seem  _ quite _ as horrific. It didn't feel as much like it had, like if he fell asleep, he'd choke on his own blood or be beaten again. He wondered if his presence had the same effect on the nightmares the doctor had mentioned or if he made them worse.

Bruce had obviously already been tired before Loki was even in his apartment from the amount of work Stark had had him doing recently. He seemed to fall asleep almost the second he moved his head onto Loki's chest. The demigod smirked silently but affectionately at that, drifting off himself not long after.

 

-

 

It seemed to only just be getting light outside when Loki woke up from the best night's sleep he'd had in just over a month. He didn't think it was a coincidence that the only night he hadn't been awoken by the nightmares was the night he slept in Bruce's bed with the scientist using him as a pillow. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had dared to be this close to him, both physically and mentally.

Loki found himself watching the doctor sleep again, fascinated by every detail, ever imperfection that just seemed to amplify his attraction even though he'd memorised all of them. He'd noticed now that the only time Bruce ever seemed to completely switch off whatever intelligent things he pondered during the day.

With his eyes shut, the stress lines around his face seemed to relax and Loki could tell he was probably younger than he looked, never mind how old he'd acted when they'd first really met. Loki gently stroked at the fluffy strands of prematurely grey hair at Bruce's temples and wished he could see what Bruce was dreaming about underneath the slight smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

The doctor's was warm against his, probably too warm for a human. Bruce wasn't sick, that was just the way he always was. If Loki had to guess why he'd say it was probably caused by his accident. Loki himself was cold blooded, the only Jotünn feature he'd retained when he'd shifted into Aesir form all those years ago, but he  _ felt _ cold and was fairly sure that wasn't normal. His body was naturally so much cooler than the people around him but constantly being in his now-natural Aesir form meant that it felt like ice-water was running through his veins. That was just another inconsistency that had suddenly made sense when he'd discovered his true parentage. Bruce didn't seem to care about thought been though it was an obvious flaw. He hadn't so much as made a comment. He was an extremely intelligent man, he had undoubtably worked out the cause quickly.

Loki knew he'd tried to deny or at least suppress his feelings for long enough now. No matter what he'd used to justify staying at the start, all this had been through attraction, not convenience and usefulness like he'd been trying to tell himself at the beginning. He had felt more genuine emotion towards Bruce in so short a period of time than he ever had for  _ anyone _ else in his centuries of life, even if he still wasn't sure why.

There were footsteps echoing from outside the room and Stark burst in suddenly, striding to the window and pulling the drapes open.

"Wake up, Bruce, we're blowing stuff up today!" He said, childishly gleeful.

Loki pulled the sheets up around them quickly. Bruce's eyes opened and he stared up at Stark groggily.

Stark turned away from the window and saw Loki and Bruce laid in bed, Bruce looking acutely embarrassed but Loki giving him the smirk he'd reserved specifically for times like this. The billionaire looked at them for a split second then gave them both a wry grin.

"Knew it." He said, raising an eyebrow and wandering out as if nothing had happened.


	23. Chapter 23

Stark disappeared as suddenly as he'd arrived, leaving Bruce and Loki in a stunned silence.

"I take it that is not his…normal reaction to such a situation." Loki said after a while, sitting up and staring at the bedroom door.

"No. Normally he'd spend at least the next half an hour making really bad jokes and probably wouldn't give us a second alone for the rest of the  _ year _ ."

"Oh, I would never let him do that," Loki said softly, gradually lowering his voice as he continued. "It's only the beginning of the year and I have  _ so many things left to do to you _ ."

Bruce sighed slightly. "Later. One of us actually has work to do."

"Even after  _ that _ ?" Loki glanced at the bedroom door again with an expression of disbelief.

"I guess so. Avoiding him'll make it even worse." The doctor shuddered slightly at the thought and stood up, looking up at the demigod with a slight smile and wandered towards the bathroom, not bothering to pick his clothes up off the floor.

Loki smiled at the sight of the scientist's naked body walking away from him but allowed Bruce a few seconds until he heard the water being turned on before following him.

Bruce didn't hear him over the shower until Loki was behind him.

"Hello."

Bruce jumped away, hitting the wall and cursing at him.

"Jesus, don't do that!"

Loki smirked. "Now we're both here..."

"You just won't give up this morning."

The demigod nodded and Bruce smiled and pulled him further under the flowing water, kissing him slowly. Loki turned the scientist round until his head was resting against the side of Bruce's and his. He draped one arm over Bruce's shoulder, tracing patterns over his dripping chest with elegant fingers while the other ran down Bruce's chest and hips and finally down the length of his cock. Bruce shuddered, leaning further back into Loki's shoulder. Loki kept rubbing and stroking, slowly at first but speeding up until Bruce finally let out a cry of "oh,  _ fuck _ " and came into the wall. He would have fallen right there if Loki wasn't holding him up.

Bruce finally stood up by himself after over a minute of just leaning back onto Loki's chest and let the hot water flow into his face, bringing him back to sanity, more or less. He turned around to Loki to return the favour only to find himself alone again in the bathroom, door having just swung shut.

He picked up a towel and walked out of the bathroom to find Loki already half dressed.

"Hey, why'd you get out?"

"You have work, like you said. You were fairly clear about that."

"…I was. And I do. Doesn't mean I can't stall for a while."

"You did say ' _ later _ '. I'm going to hold you to that." The demigod said, raising an eyebrow. He pulled on his shirt, carefully covering the majority of his scars with the long sleeves, and padded to the window.

"It looks as if it will be a nice day." He said almost wistfully, watching the tiny cars and people below, his wet hair still dripping on the floor around him.

Bruce stood behind him. "There's nothing to stop us going out."

"What about Stark?"

"Tony's blown off a load of days we should have been working to do, uh," Bruce paused for a second and gestured vaguely. "Billionaire stuff, I guess. It's about time I returned the favour."

Loki was surprised. Bruce was more stubborn than people seemed to realise, especially where his work was concerned. "Really?"

He nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. "It's no good for anyone to just sit around here in the Tower anyway. Especially not when the only people you have for company are me and Tony."

"And JARVIS and occasionally Miss Potts."

"Yeah, that makes a hell of a lot of difference." Bruce rolled his eyes. "Three people and a computer isn't enough to stay sane, trust me."

"And you'd know?"

Bruce nodded, looking away from him as if trying to avoid the subject. "And I really don't want to spend all day with Tony."

"I can understand that. Stark is… difficult at the best of times."

"Today he'll be impossible."

"I thought you said it would be worse if you left him."

"Probably." Bruce scratched his head vaguely. "Maybe he'll have hit himself with some nerve gas or given himself concussion or something by the time we get back and he won't remember."

"We can always hope." Loki said softly, leaning down to kiss him. "Where should we go?"

Bruce shrugged his shirt on and started to button it up. "I know a place a few blocks from here that does a good breakfast."

"That sounds excellent."


	24. Chapter 24

It was cool outside the tower but far less biting than the last time Loki had left. This time there were none of the mortals in costume stood outside too, although it was probably too early for them.

Loki smiled at the world in general, glad of the fresh air and apparent freedom.

"You're in a good mood." The scientist said, smiling back slightly.

"Of course I am, I'm out of the tower and I'm about to go to breakfast with a very attractive man."

"What, you invited someone else without telling me?" Bruce smiled slightly but somehow that made Loki feel guilty. Bruce had had people calling him a monster for several years longer than they'd been doing the same to him, Loki reminded himself. While to an Asgardian those years were no time at all, it was a decent fraction of Bruce's life. It may take him some time to actually believe any compliments Loki paid him were the truth.

Outwardly he just smirked and took Bruce's hand in his.

"So, where are we going?"

"This way." Bruce said and started walking. Loki kept pace next to him.

"So you aren't going to tell me?"

"Not yet." The scientist smiled.

Loki nodded. He wondered what this place would be like to get Bruce to seem so excited about going there. This was going to be an interesting experience.

 

-

 

The diner hadn't changed at all, even though it had been years since Bruce had been there. The staff were different, but waiters and waitresses changed regularly in a city like New York anyway.

Inside it was light and warm and the woman who'd been working behind the counter since long before Bruce started coming here smiled at them as they entered. She recognised him, from before not from the news.

The voices of the other customers and the sound of the radio filled the air along with the smell of cooking bacon and strong coffee.

"This is really weird." Bruce said absently.

"What is?"

"This," Bruce gestured around him. "Last year we were literally trying to kill each other and now we're in a diner about to eat breakfast together."

"This hasn't struck you before?" Loki said, raising an eyebrow in mild disbelief.

"Not really. Up until now it's just been sex and sitting around in the apartment. Coming out for breakfast? This is something that  _ couples _ do."

"Is that what we are now? A couple?"

"I guess so."

Loki smiled, one of those rare, genuine smiles that only Bruce seemed to have seen.

"You like that idea?"

"Definitely." He said, still grinning.

Bruce nodded, walking to a table, the same one by the window he used to sit at and work before… before his accident. It had been so long since he'd been in here. He'd been saying he'd come since he moved into the Tower, even if only to see if it was still in business after the battle, but he'd found trying to revisit anything of his old life had been too painful. Somehow it wasn't as daunting when Loki was with him.

While Bruce had been somewhat lost in thought, Loki had been looking curiously at the menu.

"Pancakes?" He said, looking up.

"Yeah?"

"What are pancakes?"

"Flat things with syrup on them."

"Pardon?" Loki looked slightly confused, understandably.

"I don't know. I'm getting as bad at explaining things as Tony. Just try them, you have to eventually."

"Another one of those mortal things? Like the Star Wars?"

"Just Star Wars. And yeah, it's a mortal thing."

Loki nodded. "There are a lot of things you people have to know. To fit in on Asgard you just have to be able to hold your drink or throw a half-decent punch."

"That helps here too."

"Good to know our realms have that in common." The demigod muttered sarcastically.

Bruce nodded, mind straying involuntarily into memories of the smell of cheap alcohol and beatings long past. "And we're supposed to be civilised."

Both of them looked up from the darkest recesses of memory as the woman from behind the counter walked over to the table to take their orders.

 

-

 

Loki stared at the stack of pancakes suspiciously and poked the top one with his fork.

"How am I supposed to eat this?"

Bruce leaned across the table holding his own knife and fork and cut a piece off.

"Like this." He said, voice muffled by the mouthful of food.

"I don't steal your food." The demigod said disappointedly.

"I wouldn't let you." Bruce said, raising an eyebrow.

"Somehow, I don't doubt that." Bruce could practically see Loki imagining the Other Guy defending his bacon.

"I do agree, though." Loki said thoughtfully after a while of eating, neither speaking, just listening to the sounds of the diner and the street beyond "This is a rather odd situation."

Bruce nodded.

"It's not that I don't appreciate all of it." he smiled. "Even after the first time I kissed you, I'd have thought you would have taken far longer than this to be persuaded to do much else, never mind be together more… officially."

"Why?"

"Apart from the fact that you would barely let me near you immediately afterwards?"

Bruce still looked embarrassed by that, even with everything they'd done since. "Yeah, apart from that."

"As far as I'm aware, the last person you were with was a woman."

"Yeah, Betty. It, uh, didn't really work out."

"Why?"

"Well, just to start off, her dad tried to weaponise me." He said. There was a slight smile on his face, as if it was a joke, but he couldn't conceal the pain in his eyes.

Loki's eyes narrowed. "The General that you... 'Pissed off', was that her father?"

Bruce nodded but didn't speak for a few long seconds. "Yeah. I loved her but..." He trailed off and shook his head, unable to continue on that line of thought. "What does that change about now?"

"People on this realm seem to have very narrow ideas about attraction."

"Hate to break it to you but you aren't the first guy I've ever dated. It was the genocide thing putting me off more than anything else." He said with a small, sarcastic smirk.

It was Loki's turn to freeze.

"Sorry." Bruce said expression turning apologetic but still with a hint of amusement. "That was mean."

The demigod whispered something affectionately, reaching across the table to take one of Bruce's hands in his. It took the scientist a second to realise what he said had been in Asgardian.

"What's that mean?"

"Bastard."

Bruce laughed. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome." The demigod smirked and took another bite of pancake experimentally. "You  _ were _ right."

"About what?"

"The food here is more than good."

The scientist shrugged. "Probably anything is after eating my cooking for two months."

Loki shrugged. "You aren't  _ that _ terrible."

The scientist raised an eyebrow.

Loki started to say something then stopped. "No, you are right, actually. Not even I could keep that lie going. But thank you, really. I still appreciate it."

Bruce shot him a sceptical look.

He shrugged and smiled slightly. "Anything is better than back on Asgard, no matter how much bacon is burned."

When he worded it like that, Bruce wasn't sure if Loki was talking about the torture before he was banished, or before any of the events featuring the young god as villain had happened. But he could guess.


	25. Chapter 25

"Doctor Banner, you're needed downstairs." JARVIS's voice announced suddenly, waking Bruce from an unusually peaceful sleep.

The scientist opened his eyes slowly, blinking to try and see in the darkness, then yawned. "Why?"

"A situation has arisen that requires the Avengers' attention."

Bruce nodded and yawned again, sitting up. He had to ask. Before Tony had told JARVIS to wake him up for some terrible old movie on television and a bunch of other stupid things. Actually, maybe the movie thing would have been better. At least that never really killed anybody.

He sighed and rolled over. Loki had been woken up by the AI too and was looking at him curiously.

"I have to go…"

"I understand. Saving the realm from people like me is important." The demigod said with a tired smirk.

Bruce shook his head, smiling tiredly. "None of them are like you."

Loki nodded, returning the smile but Bruce got the impression he was still too asleep to actually register what was being said.

"I doubt this is going to take that long anyway. Mostly we get some kind of warning if it's something big."

"Good." Loki yawned. "I… I will keep the bed warm for when you get back."

"Thanks." Bruce said, rolling his eyes and getting out of bed. Loki already seemed to have fallen back to sleep. Lucky him. The doctor pulled on his clothes and padded out of the apartment. This had better be good.

 

-

 

Loki could hear the sounds of Stark's victory party starting and it was less than half an hour since the Avengers had come back from their latest attempt in assisting another younger and more inexperienced hero to thwart the plans of a man apparently called the Green Goblin. Loki had snorted slightly at the name but he'd briefly seen Stark walking down the corridor outside the apartment, his armour covered in dents and blood oozing from various cuts and grazes on his face when they had returned from the mission.

He could only thank god that the Other Guy, as Bruce called him, was invulnerable to probably any of the attacks the maniac could have thrown at them. He didn't know what he'd do if Bruce came back from every mission in the same state that Stark did, or perhaps even didn't come back at all one day.

They had won regardless of the wounds sustained and, as usual, Stark had already started handing out the victory drinks. Bruce had joined them for once, leaving Loki alone in the apartment, away from the Avengers who, by some miracle, still hadn't discovered him living in the tower. Mostly after missions Bruce just went to bed. He always needed time to recover after 'hulking out', as Stark called it, and most of that recovery was sleeping. Today he'd decided that could wait until later and presumably that he needed a drink. Loki was quite glad of the time alone anyway; it was hard to get used to almost constant company after such a long time completely alone except for torturers. He took a few cans of beer out of Bruce's fridge and sat down on the sofa, fully intending to spend the time Bruce was gone doing what he was told was a classic Midgardian tradition; drinking and watching television.

A series of crashes echoed from somewhere below the apartment, quickly followed by yelling. The demigod dropped the can in surprise.

It was probably nothing, he tried to persuade himself, maybe just Thor falling over. The crashes and thuds continued. All right, probably not just nothing then.

Loki walked to the door as calmly as he could and checked to see if the corridor outside was empty. When he knew it was, he slipped out into the corridor, closing the door quietly behind him. He crept silently down the maintenance stairs to Stark's floor and looked round the corner to where the Avengers were stood.

It was the first time he'd seen the Other Guy since the huge creature had been beating him into the floor the previous year. He was struck with terror, frozen to the spot as the monster glared down at Stark, towering above the billionaire. For the first time he truly realised what he had released on the helicarrier. It didn't matter about which parts he hadn't controlled, he owed these people for both what he'd done to them and what they'd done for him despite everything, especially Bruce.

He was almost petrified, frozen to the spot, but he knew he had to stop the Hulk before someone was seriously hurt. Bruce would never forgive himself if that happened to his friends.

The Hulk began to swing one huge fist onto Stark's unprotected body and Loki ran out of the doorway and tackled the billionaire out of the way just in time. The green fist hit him hard in the head and sent him sprawling across the room.

He stood up unsteadily, his head throbbing from a blow that would /easily/ have crushed Stark. For a blurry second he saw the looks of shock and fury on the other Avengers' faces before he was struck again, this time in the torso. He was launched back and hit the corner between the wall and ceiling, sliding back down to the floor in a shower of plaster dust. Now the Hulk was fully focused on him and ignoring the Avengers, hopefully giving them enough time to regroup. Loki didn't move a muscle, not even breathing and meeting the creatures glare with one of his own.

There were the smashes of walls breaking and Thor leapt onto the Hulk's back, wrapping Mjolnir around his neck and dragging him away from Loki.

Loki pulled himself upright again painfully, one arm around his ribs and the other on his head, healing the bleeding wound on his temple from where his head hit the wall. Barton and Romanov already had guns pointed at him, unsurprisingly. Romanov's expression was as cold as he remembered it being but Barton's was different. There was definitely fear in his eyes, but most of it was pure, unadulterated rage. Nothing short of what Loki had expected.

"Hands above your head!" Romanov yelled before Barton could find a reason to shoot him.

Loki looked up at her, his vision still slightly hazy from the blow to his head, even though it should have already healed itself. "You can pursue this line of vengeance later. I'm here to help."

"Why don't I believe that?" Barton growled.

"You don't have to believe me. And you should know by now that your bullets won't have any effect."

Romanov fired what Loki assumed to be a warning shot, grazing his cheek. Loki felt blood well up and start to drip down his face where the bullet had made contact.

"Adamantium bullets. Give it up, Loki."

Loki raised his hands above his head and stepped back, leaving an illusion of himself behind. It was a simple trick; the second their bullets hit it would dissipate but until then he could still try to help with the real problem.

Romanov kept her weapons on the illusion. Barton didn't even blink as far as Loki saw, just shifted his aim slightly to the left and pulled the trigger. Loki staggered back and fell, clutching his shoulder and trying not to make any sound that would betray his pain. It made sense that the archer would remember that trick. He knew he was only lucky that it hadn't been a head shot but suspected that that was only because Barton had something far more painful in mind for his future.

The wound must have been worse than he imagined with the amount of blood pouring from his shoulder. He wasn't healing again. He cursed but very quietly, barely audible. The assassins would have noticed but perhaps none of the others.

Loki tried to drag himself forward towards the Hulk with his undamaged arm but gave up when he saw that Barton and Romanov's guns were still on him. He let out a quiet, involuntary whimper of pain and surrender and the Hulk turned, looking right at him.

Now he seemed even more angry. Angry because Loki was hurt? That didn't sound right, especially not after he'd been beaten by the same creature only minutes ago.

If Loki could just reach him...

The Hulk turned to Barton now and Loki pushed himself upright as the assassins' attention was diverted.

"Bruce." He said quietly.

The beast turned to look at him and for a split-second Loki saw Bruce's eyes deep in the huge face, then they turned back into the Hulk's. It charged at him but Loki moved at the last second then leapt onto his back like Thor had done.

He felt the racing pulse beneath the Hulk's skin and started to slow it as he had done so many times before in such different circumstances. The green skin below Loki started to pale as he held on with his working arm. Eventually it was Bruce in his grip instead of the beast, falling to his bare knees, head bowed onto his chest, only held up by Loki's arm still around his neck.

"What the...?" Barton muttered.

The demigod gently laid Bruce on the floor before standing up, slowly to show he wouldn't attack, and raised his hands above his head. He could feel the wound in his shoulder starting to knit together now. It shouldn't have taken so long; Odin's curses had lasted longer than he'd thought they would.

"What the fuck did you do?"

"I stopped him." Loki said breathlessly.

"You killed him!"

"No!" He snapped defensively then lowered his voice. "No. He's fine, just unconscious."

"I don't trust you."

Loki stepped back, aware that doing that put him closer to the window, a possible escape route if he really needed it. "Examine him yourself if you must, but I don't see what I could possibly gain from harming him."

"Less resistance." Romanov growled.

"Resistance against  _ what _ exactly?"

"What, other than for another go at destroying the planet?"

"I did not even have a first go!" The demigod protested. It was a weak excuse to those who didn't know he'd been controlled but he didn't want to lie now, that would make it even worse.

"Then what the fuck did you call last year?!" Barton roared.

Loki flinched and took another step back. He was dead. This was it. There was no more stalling it, not now. The only one who could defend him right now was Stark and he looked too shocked to do anything yet.

Loki's lips twitched up at the edges for a second but the expression was hollow.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Loki whispered as the windows smashed over the Avengers and the demigod stepped back into nothing but emptiness.


	26. Chapter 26

As always after an unwilling transformation, Bruce woke up with groan. His mind was a blur of half-formed memory and the sharp ache of changing, even worse than usual from the fact the Other Guy had taken over twice today. He could barely force himself to move, paralysed with exhaustion and pain.

As part of the haze started to clear and the agony started to lift, he remembered just one important thing. Loki. Loki had been here. He'd been stood in front of the others, genuinely trying to help but just getting shot for his trouble. He cursed internally.

What had even happened? Why had he changed? He'd been drinking, he knew that much. That was kind of an unusual event in itself for Bruce, he'd never really drunk that much, not after his childhood and especially not since the accident. Bruce had had no idea what effect it might have on him but he'd thought he'd be fine tonight, that after several long years it wouldn't be a problem. Apparently it was a problem. A massive, green, dangerous fucking problem. He winced as more memories started to come back.

Bruce finally opened his eyes in an attempt to beat back the unwilling recollection. He'd been carried to a sofa. Someone had put him in a pair of sweat pants but nothing else. At least he wasn't passed out naked on the floor. That had happened more times than he could count.

Natasha was stood against the wall opposite, watching him. "You alive?"

"Yeah."

She nodded silently.

"What happened?" Bruce said very quietly. How could he ask what he needed to know without Natasha guessing his involvement? "I... I dreamt that Loki was here."

"Hate to break it to you, doctor, but that wasn't a dream." Natasha said with an expression of disgust.

_ Fuck _ .

Bruce sat up quickly and winced as his head exploded with pain. "What happened? Where is he?"

"We don't know and we don't know. Jumped out of the window when he knew we were going to beat him. Thor and Stark are looking for a body. Steve went over to SHIELD to get them to start searching too."

"Body?" He felt all the blood drain from his face.  _ No. God no... _

"Thor thinks he'll have survived but we can always hope." She shrugged.

"Yeah, there's always that." He said weakly.

Natasha's eyes narrowed and she touched his shoulder gently. "Are you okay, Bruce? You look like crap. More than usual, I mean."

"I'm fine. I just need some more time to sleep or something." Bruce whispered unconvincingly, shrugging her hand away. "I… I don't think I can process all this yet."

"If you say so." She said doubtfully with a shrug. "I've got to go check on Clint."

His heart skipped a beat. "I didn't hurt him did I?"

"No, but you know what happened last time Loki was here. Clint…" she paused for a second and her voice lowered. "Well, he isn't taking it well."

Bruce just nodded. He'd barely seen Clint after the battle but the few, brief times the archer had left his room, he was quieter and far more jumpy than the way he'd been described by Natasha and the few other SHIELD agents they had regular contact with. It must have been worse than a nightmare to find out that Loki was back, not dead or imprisoned like he'd thought.

He stood up, unable to hide his fragility from the analytical gaze of the assassin opposite.

"You need a hand, Banner?" She said after watching him stagger a few steps towards the elevator.

"No."

She raised an eyebrow pointedly.

"Could you leave me with this much of my damaged pride left?  _ I'm fine. _ " He repeated, even though 'fine' was about three thousand light years away from what he was now. He could barely stand and his head was spinning. That had been one thing he hadn't lied about; he really couldn't comprehend everything that had happened. He needed time to think.

He stepped into the elevator, leaning heavily against the wall. Natasha followed him in and pressed the button for the floor she shared with Clint.

"Get some sleep, get your strength up." She instructed seriously. "They might find Loki at any time and we'll need your help to take him down again."

Bruce nodded, turning to go into his apartment without another word. He didn't mention that after almost killing everyone he cared about, he never wanted to be the Other Guy again. He'd always have hurt more people than he could ever save.

The apartment felt empty and quiet now after the time since Loki had basically started living with him.

Bruce dragged himself into the kitchen to see if there were any of the energy bars he purposely bought for after missions left in any of the cupboards. He quietly thanked whatever gods might be listening that there was still a few left and ate in silence, still too tired to think straight about what he could do to help Loki without the others thinking he was a traitor. Eventually he gave up. Natasha was right, he did need to get some sleep and get back some strength, regardless of whose side he was going to be fighting on.

Bruce was slightly stronger already, padding into his bedroom silently, managing not to stumble or collapse, and pulled on some of his own clothes.

He sat down slowly on the edge of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. They still hadn't found a body, he was sure  _ someone _ would tell him if they had, which meant Loki could still be out there alive, but at the height he'd fallen from, god only knew if he could survive the night. The rain had started as he'd regained consciousness and it had only got heavier since then. Even an Asgardian might struggle out there on a night like this.

What could he do? Bruce couldn't openly take Loki's side but he wasn't just standing by as his teammates murdered him. He couldn't stand back and watch the one he loved  _ die _ . Wait,  _ love _ ? This was the worst possible time for that revelation but it wasn't something he could hide from himself any more.

"Fuck." He whispered, out loud this time now he was away from Natasha.

"Are you all right?" A quiet, concerned voice said from the shadows in the corner of the room.

Bruce jumped. "Loki?"

The demigod stood up stiffly and nodded. There was blood all over his paler-than-usual face and shirt and he was shaking uncontrollably.

"Fuck," Bruce repeated, standing up and gently brushing some bloody strands of hair away to reveal the remaining cuts and bruises on Loki's face. "I did all this, didn't I?"

"Not all of it. Agents Romanov and Barton helped quite a bit." Loki tried to smirk but it came out as a grimace. He took another shaky step and sat down on the bed just beside where Bruce had been sat a second ago. The scientist sat down next to him.

"Where are your friends?" He said nervously, looking around in case anyone had come down to the apartment with Bruce.

"Tony and Thor are looking for your body in case you didn't survive the drop. Clint and Natasha are somewhere else, I have no idea what they're doing but it probably involves revenge."

"And the Captain?"

"Went to the New York SHIELD base to try to get them to look for you and most likely get in contact with Fury."

"They haven't given you anything to do?"

"I'm not in much of a state to do anything to help. Being the Hulk twice in one day's nearly killed me." Bruce sighed slightly, exhausted but also  _ scared _ . "But if I'm honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they thought I had something to do with this. Especially after you stopped the Other Guy like that."

Loki's eyes narrowed. "They do not trust you?"

"I thought they did but I guess not. Tony definitely does but..." Bruce trailed off.

"Stark had enough trust in me to let me stay in his tower," Loki finished. "Even after all my crimes."

"Most of them weren't yours."

"He could not have known that when he first saw me."

"Tony's a good guy, one of the best if you can get used to how crazy he can be. He wouldn't leave anyone to die like that." Bruce sighed and leant forward, his crossed arms resting on his legs. "But it's not really a surprise that no-one else trusts a 'mindless beast'."

Loki flinched at the phrase, not quite knowing where he recognised it from but having a strong suspicion that it had something to do with him. "I saw the news reports. You saved their lives."

"And then I tried to kill them."

"That was not your fault."

Bruce gave a short, bitter laugh. "I didn't have to turn myself into this monster."

"Of all the people in this realm that could be given that title,  _ you _ are certainly not a monster, Bruce." Loki seemed determined to stop him thinking that way, even though Bruce knew Loki felt the same about himself.

The scientist gave him a small, hopeless smile.

"If you keep telling me that I might actually start believing it." He whispered, reaching for Loki's hand. Loki flinched away from his touch on reflex, heart still pumping leftover adrenalin through his body. Bruce looked him in the eyes and all the demigod saw was betrayal.

"I'm sorry." Loki said quickly, sitting up straighter as Bruce stood up without a word. "I did not mean to... Bruce?"

Loki stopped speaking as he left the room, slamming the door behind him. The demigod's head sank to his chest. Following Bruce would only make it worse at this point, Loki knew. He would have flinched away from anyone but that was the point. He should have at least tried to calm himself down and stop panicking about being discovered. Who could blame Bruce from fleeing from someone who could upset him like that?

Loki was left to stew in these thoughts until Stark opened the door about half an hour later, leaning on the frame.

"Thought you'd be in Mexico by now." He said mildly, not sounding that surprised that Loki was still in the Tower.

"I can't leave. Not yet."

"Your neck." Stark shrugged. "Where's Bruce?"

"He left." Loki said quietly.

"Where?"

Loki shrugged miserably. "I do not know. I upset him, Stark."

"He's taken the whole almost-destroying-the-tower thing pretty hard." Tony shrugged. "He'll be okay ."

Loki shrugged doubtfully. It wasn't that he didn't believe Stark but it was obvious he'd offended Bruce. He didn't want to think about it.

"I'm going to bed, if you don't mind. I suspect I will need all the rest I can get in order to survive tomorrow." He said softly. Stark nodded.

"When Bruce gets back, tell him I need him." He said just before the door slammed shut again. 'When', not 'if'. At least Stark had confidence in his friends.

Loki stood up, legs still slightly shaky, and went into the bathroom. Regardless of any other part of his current predicament, he was still covered in his own blood. He needed a shower.

Loki tried to think of some kind of plan as the hot water flowed over his wounds. He couldn't hide in the Tower for much longer, with the Avengers now searching for him that was far from a sensible option. The more he tried to think, the more hopeless it seemed. If the Avengers didn't catch him now, SHIELD would use whatever methods they'd used to find him the last time (wherever it was they'd actually found him, the details were still too blurry) and kill him on sight.

That left him with only two real option.

Let them kill him, or give himself up.


	27. Chapter 27

"Why are we even down here?" Captain Rogers' voice echoed through the thin walls of the apartment.

"I need backup before I can start this argument." Stark said with the vocal equivalent of a shrug. " _ Bruce! _ "

"Argument? What argument?" Rogers sounded genuinely confused but Loki already knew what Stark was about to say.

"The one I'm starting now, weren't you listening?"

_ Could the man possibly get any more tactless? _ Loki wondered.

"Loki's innocent."

_ Apparently no, he couldn't. _

" _ What? _ "

"You heard me."

There was a sound. It conveyed some kind of sputtering fury. Loki had to assume it was coming from Rogers.

"I mean it."

"He killed people right in front of us, Stark, are you insane?!"

"He was controlled!"

"Did  _ he _ tell you that? Come on, Stark, you can't really believe that, he's the god of lying!"

The voices outside the bedroom had started out just speaking but had now elevated into shouts and echoed into Loki's ears, increasing the ache in his already throbbing head. It sounded like Captain Rogers was doing the accusing as usual, although to be fair to him, for all his current knowledge he thought he was correct. Bruce had been right a few months ago, the scientist had said he'd get used to the regular arguments between the Captain and Stark, even when they echoed through the walls, but this was far more heated than usual. It was because it was about him, Loki knew. Even /he/ was going to have some trouble lying his way out of something like this.

Loki sat up stiffly and deeply wished that Bruce was with him. He hadn't seen the physicist since the previous night, not that it wasn't his own fault, but facing Rogers would have been an easier task to face with Bruce at his side.

"You saw what he did last night. I would've died." Stark's voice was far quieter now but ten times as poisonous.

"That doesn't change what he did! He knows he can gain our trust by making the sacri..."

"Don't even  _ start _ on that bullshit again, Rogers." Stark interrupted harshly. "The only person you think can make 'the sacrifice play' is you and who do you have left to sacrifice anything for? Jesus, I told you first because I thought you were the most fucking reasonable!"

It was probably time to intrude now, before the Avengers' argument came to blows. Loki stood up slowly. The bruises he'd gotten the previous night had healed, obviously, but he was still aching, something that seemed to be the usual aftermath of a beating from the Hulk. It was the first clear thing he remembered after Thanos had relinquished his hold on Loki's mind. He pulled on one of the clean shirts and pairs of jeans he'd left in Bruce's wardrobe and padded almost silently to the bedroom door. He didn't miss Rogers' expression of shock at Stark's comment as he walked past but chose to ignore it. He was hardly going to jump to the aid of a man who, seconds before, had presumably been fighting to have him locked up or even killed.

"Good morning Stark, Captain Rogers." He said quietly, stifling a yawn and nodding at both the heroes as he wandered past to the kitchen.

"What the hell were you doing in there? Why are you here?!" Rogers called after him but didn't follow. He almost seemed scared but after watching a creature survive all that had happened to Loki, the demigod didn't blame him. Loki clicked the button on the coffee maker and turned.

"Well, I was sleeping, no thanks to the two of you for waking me up. This morning I  _ had _ hoped to get something to eat then stop exploiting Stark's hospitality. If that is all right with you?" He added sarcastically as an after-thought. He got the distinct impression that what he had planned wasn't how his day would proceed, not when Rogers was giving him  _ that _ look. He needed to find Bruce and apologise.

Rogers stared at him still. "You're not leaving the Tower. Who knows what could happen if you got loose on Manhattan again!"

"I've been out into the city more than once already, Captain. I hardly think one more time will make any difference," Loki shrugged. He hadn't been out alone but that was beside the point. It was mostly because he didn't want to get lost.

Loki brightened up slightly as he noticed his coffee was ready. It was a wonder that he'd ever functioned in the mornings on Asgard without it. "Coffee?"

Rogers gave him a look of utter disbelief but Stark nodded, looking relieved at the offer. Something told him the billionaire hadn't had much sleep either.

"You gave a demigod a caffeine addiction?" Rogers hissed, sounding somewhat startled and diverting his attention towards Stark.

The billionaire shrugged. "Maybe a small one."

Loki floated one of the mugs over to Stark carefully, not wanting to get any closer to Rogers.

"Are you really going to drink that? It could be poisoned or anything." Rogers whispered. He was too quiet for any human to have heard from the same distance, but Loki wasn't human.

"I wouldn't ruin the coffee." Loki said, raising an eyebrow. False confidence. That might buy him a while.

"See," Stark smirked. "The guy can't be  _ that _ evil."

"Shut up, Stark." Rogers snapped. "Aren't you worried about what he's done to Bruce?"

"I thought I showed you last night that I harbour no ill will towards any of you, especially Bruce. I had plenty of chances to kill him then but I didn't."

"Yeah, you shattered that window all over us out of the good of your heart. Why are you here, Loki?"

"I already told you-"

"I mean why are you on Earth?"

"Oh." Loki said quietly, looking at the floor. "That's a fairly easy question too. I'm not here for any sinister reason, Captain Rogers, I was banished."

"To a place you just tried to destroy? You expect me to believe that?"

"Not really. But it is the gods' own truth. If it makes you feel any better, I also struggle to follow the All-Father's logic in this situation. It was far from his most sensible decision."

"No shit." Stark said bluntly. Rogers ignored him.

"And you were being  _ controlled _ ?" The Captain said in disbelief.

"Yes."

"You're going to stick with that excuse? That the best you could come up with?"

"No. I could think of any number of lies that are thousands of times more believable. I just thought I shouldn't lie this time, not if I want to live."

"You tried to rule the world, destroy my home. You think you get a say in any of this, truth or no truth?"

"No, I don't. I've seen some of the damage they did to your city in my name even if I never wanted that." Loki looked up slowly, meeting the Captain's eyes. "I could apologise for what I was forced to do, but we both know that it could never be enough."

"I don't trust you."

"You don't have to. Just believe me this one time."

"No."

"Then what would you have me do?" He snapped, suddenly angry as well as just ashamed. He'd tried but he couldn't just stand there and take what people threw at him without firing a few shots himself. "Would you rather I'd said that I did it and said how sorry I am? I've been trying to be a decent person for the first time in my admittedly worthless life and all I have to show is for the trouble are more scars than I care to count and more pain than I ever got as a liar!"

"Loki-"

"No, Stark. I don't know why I bothered staying, I really don't." Well, that was a lie even if he had been trying to tell the truth. There was a reason he was still here;  _ so was Bruce.  _ He clicked his fingers, the two heroes slumping into sleep. Loki sighed. He stepped over the pair silently and picked up his jacket and scarf from the bedroom before wandering out of the apartment, wondering if it would be the last time he saw it. He walked towards the stairs that let out closest to the lab shared by Bruce and Stark. He needed to get the billionaire alone before he finally left and that couldn't happen while Rogers was around, even if he was unconscious.

 

-

 

It was a while before he heard anyone coming anywhere the lab. He'd been sat on the sofa that apparently was regularly used as a bed by at least one of the two scientists for most of that time but now he heard two sets of voices and footsteps he hid behind the door.

"...Fifty calibre adamantium-plated bullet and he got up!" Barton was yelling just outside. "'Can kill an elephant from a half a mile', you said! And that bastard just  _ stood up _ !"

"Don't know if you noticed, Legolas, but Asgardians aren't a standard test dummy for ammo."

"Neither are elephants! This isn't funny, Stark! That guy... He..." Barton trailed off. "I killed people on  _ our side _ thanks to him!"

"It wasn't him."

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious, Clint."

"That'll be a first." Barton snorted. "Who the fuck else could it have been, seriously?"

"Thanos."

"What?"

"Apparently your genuine crazy space-dick."

"And who told you that? Loki?"

"Yeah." Stark shrugged and carried on before Barton could say anything else. "Look, I believe him."

"Why?"

"I don't know. High cheekbones, British accent, hot body, the fact that he's been here for literally months and none of us are dead yet?" Stark deadpanned.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Barton sounded like he was about to explode but the billionaire continued anyway.

"Lot's of things, but not this."

Loki wished he didn't have to stay and hear this exchange but he needed to talk to Stark. The argument continued even longer then Loki finally heard Barton walking away furiously as the door to the lab slid open.

"Still here?" Stark said, still not seeming all that shocked.

"Apparently." The demigod said softly. "Have you seen Bruce anywhere this morning?"

Stark shook his head. "I thought he'd have cooled off by now."

"I also thought he'd be back by now. I thought he was only angry at me."

"He's pissed off at himself, not at any of us." Stark said knowingly, voice quiet.

Loki nodded but didn't quite believe it. "Do you have any idea as to where he could be?"

"I guess there's a couple of bars he might have mentioned a few times. Not that he'd be drinking after  _ that _ ." Stark opened a few drawers in one of the desks and searched around in them, then finally passed Loki a phone. "I'll get JARVIS to text you the addresses. Memorise them then get rid of it."

"Thank you." He sighed. "The rest of your Avengers will never believe me, will they?"

Stark shrugged. "Did you think me or Bruce would?"

"No, but this is different. You had time to think. You saw what the people who were supposed to be my family did to me. They didn't."

"Look, it took guts to stand up to Captain Killjoy-"

"It did. And you hardly leapt to my defence." Loki interrupted venomously before he could finish.

"What the hell could I have said?"

"I don't know! Anything!" He snapped then took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "I know it isn't your fault really, Stark. I just thought I might be able to give myself a chance. The only real choice I have of surviving now is to give myself up before they kill me."

"Bullshit. There's always other ways."

"Not if I want to save Bruce or even you from a similar fate." He said quietly. "Speaking of which, when they ask, you will tell them I controlled you."

"No."

"This is not up for debate. Do you honestly think that Fury would believe that you and Bruce, the most intelligent Avengers, would save me of your own free will?"

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"You'd rather they thought you were willingly harbouring a fugitive?"

"Without us they don't have the Avengers. Fury won't do anything."

"Fury would jump at any chance to arrest you, even if he didn't go near Bruce, and you know that. There are threats out there far worse than I ever was. Midgard needs you and Bruce to save it. It doesn't need me for anything."

"Earth might not need you but Bruce does, you know that right?"

Loki shook his head, refusing to let his emotions cloud his judgement. The fact that he knew that and felt the same had made this the hardest choice he'd ever made.

"Do not try to dissuade me now. I have made my decision. This will probably save him some grief later." The demigod said quietly, leaving the lab the adjusting his scarf and jacket to cover the bottom of his face and walking towards the stairs. He turned for a second before leaving the corridor. "Goodbye Stark."


	28. Chapter 28

The cold air bit at his face and Loki pulled his scarf tighter. He'd always hated winter, especially back on Asgard, and both Bruce and Stark had commented several times that he was most likely the worst Frost Giant in existence. Loki could live with that. He didn't even want to be associated with that part of his heritage.

He didn't have much money, just what he'd found in the apartment, but still enough for a cab to the bar JARVIS had suggested Bruce was most likely to be at. Loki had never really thought of Bruce as a man who would go to places like these but despite everything, in comparison to what Bruce knew about him, Loki knew fairly little about what the physicist had been like before his accident and the Avengers. Not even Stark, for all his general nosiness, knew much more than what he'd read in files. For the most part Bruce refused to talk about his past, it was an understandably painful subject. Between the three of them, and probably the other Avengers too, that was fine. They all had more things they didn't wish to share than most.

Loki walked quickly to the first cab he saw and gave the driver the name of the bar. The driver raised an eyebrow at Loki but he didn't offer any explanation. He just stared out of the window as they drove further away from the shining beacon of the Avengers Tower towards much more run down, smashed buildings and empty shop fronts with broken windows. It may have been a nice area once but now the battle the previous year had hit particularly hard. It seemed like no-one had bothered to start fixing the area other than to clear the roads but, somewhat shockingly, there were still signs of life in most of the apartments.

He sighed guiltily as he stepped out of the cab, wondering how many lives he'd managed to ruin in such a short space of time, then walked into the bar out of the cold.

No-one turned as he entered, not even acknowledging his existence. Most of the bar's customers seemed as battered and hopeless as the neighbourhood it was located in. The room itself was fairly dark but he spotted Bruce sat alone in the booth furthest from the door almost immediately.

"Is this seat taken?" He said softly.

The scientist looked up. He didn't drunk at all which was odd after so long in the bar, eyes still alert and focussed, even though they seemed completely devoid of emotion. The only thing on the table in front of him was a bottle of water. When he didn't answer, Loki slid into the opposite side of the booth. They both sat in silence except for the sound of some sport being played on a static-filled television in the background.

"I'm surprised you came." Bruce said eventually, hopelessness filling his voice.

"Why?"

He looked silently across at the table, seeming almost surprised that the remaining bruises and cuts that had been on his face the previous night had gone.

Loki gave a one shouldered shrug and a slight smirk. "It's not like I haven't had worse."

"I hurt you."

"Not particularly."

"Loki, I beat you into the floor. Again."

"It wasn't  _ you _ , though, was it? None of it matters."

"It matters to me. You shouldn't have come. I'm dangerous to be around."

"You're far from it. That was the first time you've done anything wrong in the whole time I've been here."

"What about first time you were here?"

"That doesn't count." He shrugged.

"It does!"

"Neither of us were in control of our actions the first time."

The doctor looked away. He was completely silent for a while, barely even seeming to breathe.

"I was." He said finally.

"What?"

"I was," Bruce said, slightly more confidently this time. "Honestly, last year I wanted nothing more than to kill you."

Loki didn't know how to respond. He'd known, somehow, that the creature he'd tried to fight before had been slightly different, somehow more controlled, but it still hurt to hear it said out loud.

"No matter what you think, I'm not innocent. I'm not a good person, no matter how much I've tried to make up for what I've done. I ended up like this from my own actions not anyone else's, even if I was trying to recreate Erskine's experiments on Steve."

"I'm in no real position to judge, having only just really met Captain Rogers, but why would you want to make people like him?"

"It's not a joke, Loki." Bruce said sharply. "I started this.  _ I _ ruined my life. No-one else did that, just me."

Loki didn't speak for a few seconds, looking down at the stained table. Bruce had to wonder if he was genuinely thinking of what to say or just pausing to make it seem like he hadn't already thought about everything Bruce could possibly say before he even arrived.

Finally he looked up, meeting Bruce's gaze. "You're a good enough man for me." He said softly.

"Not for anyone else. I'm a monster."

"And if you are a monster, what does that make me?"

"Oh god, yeah, it's not like you'll let me forget that you were adopted from where you almost got killed. Like I had it so goddamn easy. It must have been so hard growing up in a palace with a mom and brother who loved you and enough money to last out generations of even Asgardians. So difficult when your dad at least pretended you even had a chance at being something other than a failure!"

Loki froze completely, shocked by the outburst and Bruce realised what he'd blurted out.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Why be sorry? You are correct, are you not?"

"That's not what I-"

"Yes it is, at least don't try and lie to the god of-"

"I wasn't talking about you."

"...What?"

"I said I wasn't talking about you."

"You didn't-"

"I didn't what? Go off the rails and try to kill my own brother? No. I didn't but that's the only thing you've done wrong that was actually /your fault/."

"You had a lab accident. Stark said it could have happened to anyone."

"Tony's wrong. I did that to myself and I did it on purpose. I was so convinced I'd found the right formula I tried it on myself when it hadn't even worked on the goddamn laboratory mice."

Loki didn't reply, just looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I isolated myself for a reason." He said quietly. He looked older now and a lot smaller. "I killed people, innocent people and before you start I know you did too, but you didn't put yourself into that position, someone else did."

Loki nodded slowly. The scientist was right, at least partly. He hated to think of himself as the victim of anything after what he'd ended up doing but he had been. Without Odin or Thanos or all of the others who'd abused him over the centuries, he'd probably have been a very different person. Then again, Bruce probably would have been too if that outburst had been anything to judge by. Neither of them had been fully responsible for their personal tragedies.

He reached across the table and squeezed Bruce's hand. "All things considered, I believe we're most likely only as bad as each other."

Bruce looked at him hesitantly for a moment then nodded. "I guess you're probably right."

"So now we're agreed that we are both monsters, may we just enjoy the rest of tonight?" The demigod sighed. "I do not want to spend my last night of freedom fighting."

Bruce started to say something then stopped. "Last night of… What?"

"SHIELD know I'm here now. Maybe if I surrender voluntarily, they won't hurt you. Or Stark." He added.

"Loki-"

"You saved my life when I deserved anything but. It is time for me to settle our debt."

"Whatever Tony's told you, you don't owe us anything-"

"Stark said nothing on the subject." Loki said softly. "I would rather die than have anything happen to you. I told you; you're a good man.  _ My _ good man."

Bruce stared at Loki for a few seconds then stood up and sat down next to him in the other side of the booth.

"I can look after myself, you know. I've survived this long." He said, taking Loki's hands in his.

"I know, but..." Loki hesitated and looked away.

Bruce sighed quietly. "There's always other options, you know. We could run, get out of the country. I've done it before."

"The last time you were fleeing from these people you weren't with the most wanted man in this world."

Bruce looked at him for a few seconds and frowned. "Last time I  _ was _ the most wanted man in the world."

"That does not matter. I couldn't force you into that life again."

"You wouldn't be forcing me."

"Exactly my point. You should not give up the good life you've finally earned for a lost cause."

"You're not just a lost cause."

"You have your friends and the ability to save lives through your work. I'm not the only thing you have to live for," Loki said quietly, hesitating for a second. "But you're the only thing on this or any other realm that I love."

Bruce didn't say anything for a while, just nodded slightly and rested his head against Loki's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He whispered finally.

"I know. So am I." Loki said just as softly.

"We can't go back to the Tower, not now." Bruce sighed softly.

"I didn't know if you even wanted to leave here."

Bruce shrugged. "It's not like I can drink as much as I'd like to anyway."

"Where, then?"

"There are a few motels I know that don't care about what time it is or if you have ID or even a name. No-one would expect you to be staying somewhere like that, not after last year."

Loki nodded. He gave Bruce a slight smile that failed to hide his fear. "Then one of those will be perfect


	29. Chapter 29

They got a cab from outside the bar to go to the motel. By that time it was raining heavily again, soaking most of the few people remaining on the street including Bruce and Loki, heavy droplets plastering their hair to their faces as more fell from the dark sky. Neither of them seemed to notice, sitting in the back of the cab, trying to save any physical contact until they got to their destination.

Bruce paid the driver and they both ran through the rain to the front desk.

The doctor smiled as calmly as he could at the young woman behind the glass who looked up from her phone and glowered at him in the sort of way that suggested she did the same to everyone who came through the doors. When she saw Loki stood behind him, she raised an eyebrow an infinitesimal amount and looked very slightly impressed.

"Room for tonight, please?" He said, keeping the semi-innocent look on his face.

"What name?" She said unenthusiastically.

"Uh… Nikola Tesla."

"Well, more imaginative than all the bastards claiming to be Abe Lincoln, I guess." The woman shrugged, typing the name into the ancient computer in front of her then slid a key to him in the gap beneath the glass. "Thirty six. Top of the stairs on your right as you leave here."

Bruce smiled again and pushed some money back through the gap.

The young woman counted the money, mostly what remained of what Bruce had…  _ borrowed _ from Tony and a lot more than the actual price of the room. She beamed at him.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Tesla." She glanced at Loki again and smirked knowingly. "Have a good night."

Bruce could feel the demigod's expression mirroring her's behind him and started towards the door again before his embarrassment could catch up, Loki following him closely.

He was the one who gave up first, starting to kiss Bruce before they were in the room, halfway up the stairs from the front desk. Somehow they managed to get to the room but stayed there just outside the room, Loki pinning him to the door. The rain continued to pour but Bruce didn't care. He leant in further, feeling the demigod's sharp hip-bones pushing against his own.

"Inside." Bruce managed to growl breathlessly. Loki gave a slight nod.

The door was locked but the demigod waved the hand not tangled in Bruce's wet hair and it clicked open, neither wanting to waste precious seconds with the key.

They practically fell through the door, hands quickly finding the skin underneath their cold, soaking clothes as they tried to undress without moving too far from each other. This was different; both were more desperate, more fierce than they ever had been before. It wasn't just another night. It was a last chance. There weren't any tomorrows for them now and Bruce had known that time would run out eventually, it wasn't like the universe would let either of them have a normal life in any part of their existence. He'd just hoped they'd have had more time. He'd never considered he might feel so much for the demigod, especially not after their disastrous first kiss.

Bruce paused, pulling away and looking Loki in the eyes.

"Don't go," He whispered. "Please don't leave."

Loki didn't say a word, just smiled slightly at him, not allowing anything else onto his face. Bruce didn't know what that meant, it could be anything. Maybe, just maybe, it meant they could have more than this final night, no matter how much running they had to do.

Loki pulled him closer again as the scientist whispered "Please."

The demigod blinked. "I… I might."

"Loki-"

"Bruce" He interrupted softly, gently leaning his forehead against Bruce's, eyes looking right into the doctor's soul.

"I'm serious." Bruce said, slightly louder but without much conviction.

"I know."

The scientist nodded silently and started to kiss him again, softly at first then harder as Loki pushed him back onto the worn old bed.

Bruce knew he should have fought harder but that was the last thing on his mind as Loki finally kicked off his jeans and looked down at him hungrily.

They kissed again, Bruce biting down on the demigod's lip hard enough for it to have drawn blood on a human. He could feel Loki smirk at the effort.

The demigod pulled away for a second and licked his lips slowly, panting slightly.

"Roll over." He growled quietly. Bruce couldn't find the words to submit, just let the demigod roll him over and kneel over him, a leg on each side of the scientist's hips.

He shivered with pleasure as Loki's cool lips brushed across his shoulder blades and the back of his neck, even more as he felt the demigod's erection pressing into the back of his thigh.

"Looking forward to this?" Bruce teased.

"Just hoping." The demigod whispered in his ear and Bruce could feel the smile on his breath.

 

-

 

Loki lay awake long after Bruce had fallen asleep, trying to absorb everything he could about the moment an the ones leading up to it. The lights and the sound of cars and a city that never truly slept filtered in through from the city outside, something that Loki had begun to appreciate in his time on Midgard. They were the sights and sounds of hope and life, showing that the mortals could survive anything, even a battle as savage as the one he'd started in this very city.

Loki rested his head on Bruce's chest and felt the rise and fall with each breath and the beat of his heart, appreciating every tiny movement. He inhaled deeply, taking in the smells of the cheap motel room and Bruce's even cheaper cologne.

He didn't want to let go of any of it, not now. This city was the closest thing to a home he'd had in decades, maybe even centuries.

The cold dread of the new day finally arriving was tugging at his heart and keeping him awake.

If he did decide to go as he'd originally planned, sooner or later he'd have to leave the uncomfortable motel bed and go. He was going to walk to his death or at least to further torture, undoubtedly just as bad as that he'd had to endure on Asgard, if not worse. But it didn't enter his head, not for one second, that it wouldn't be worth it. Stark could easily defend himself against whatever SHIELD decided to send against him but Bruce,  _ his _ Bruce, the man sleeping soundly beneath him, he couldn't. Bruce was a good man, no matter what he said about his past. He wasn't as ruthless as Loki knew Stark could be and definitely not anywhere near as bad as SHIELD. Loki didn't care about what happened to himself anymore. His days of living solely for self-preservation were over. When he looked back, he realised that man had died, freezing and alone on a distant asteroid, begging for mercy he hadn't deserved just before Thanos had taken over.

Now he'd do whatever he had to if it would protect Bruce.

But… but somehow, he knew if Bruce asked just one more time, he might stay. He hated the idea of forcing the one he loved into life as a fugitive again but, well, it certainly held more attraction than the loneliness and pain of his other option. It seemed so much better. But he'd be caught eventually, he knew that part was inevitable, even if where they went had fewer cameras SHIELD could hack than here. And when they found him, he'd put Bruce in danger too

Eventually sheer exhaustion overcame his worries, his eyes drooping into what he somehow knew would be his last truly restful sleep for a long time.


	30. Chapter 30

As the first tendrils of sunlight were reaching through the window, Loki carefully got out of bed, making sure not to wake Bruce. He wandered across the room and looked through the blinds. There was no sign of any people or helicopters. Small mercies; they hadn't been found yet but that couldn't last long. By now, SHIELD would have any number of notices out on him, many of which probably included shooting him on sight.

Loki wandered into the bathroom, his bare feet sticking to the dirty floor, trying to ignore reality but hoping to the gods that the ancient shower still worked. He wasn't exactly sure if he  _ wanted _ to be clean of the feel of the previous night but the gods only knew the next chance he'd get anywhere near a proper bath room.

Bruce was still asleep when he padded out, drying his hair with the least stained towel from the bathroom. Though he wanted nothing more than to get back in bed, Loki started putting on the clothes he'd been wearing yesterday.

Bruce stirred slightly as Loki the unlocked the door and removed the chain.

Loki walked around to the other side of the bed and touched Bruce's hand gently. Loki choked back a sob and kissed him.

"I... I love you, Bruce." He whispered in the physicist's ear.

He tried to straighten up but fingers tightened around his and pulled him in closer for another kiss.

"I love you too." Bruce murmured, his voice hoarse. "Stay. We can fix this."

Loki shook his head and straightened up, blinking back tears. He hadn't even realised Bruce was awake. "You know I can't. There's no way this can be repaired. I'm sorry."

" _ We _ can. Not just you on your own. There are always other ways, Loki."

"You accepted the inevitability of this yesterday." Loki said quietly with a frown.

"Yesterday I was an idiot. I could barely walk in a straight line after letting the other guy out twice in such a short space of time, never mind have a logical thought. I mean it. I won't let you go." Bruce said quietly, standing up and stepping between Loki and the door. "I can't."

"I'm sorry." The demigod said softly. With a slight movement with his other hand, far less flamboyant than he could be with magic, Loki sent Bruce back to sleep. Unlike with Stark and the Captain before, he caught Bruce as he fell and carried him back to the bed.

Loki sighed.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, despite Bruce obviously not being able to hear him. He couldn't let anything stop him, not now. As Bruce's warmth left him when he walked out of the motel room, he wondered if he'd ever feel any heat ever again. Somehow it seemed unlikely after so long in the cold before.

Despite his nerves, there were only a few clouds in the morning sky and, despite the cold in the air, it was probably going to be a nice day. The last time the weather had been like this, it had been the morning of the day he and Bruce had gone out for breakfast. They'd walked through the park together afterwards and sat in the same spot he was heading to right now.

Loki sighed at the memory and zipped up his jacket, adjusting his collar to cover the bottom of his pale face. He didn't want to be identified until the last possible moment. It was still a cold morning, it wasn't like he'd look all that suspicious.

Loki continued walking, carefully observing everyone who passed him but none of them appeared to be SHIELD agents, just regular mortals; younger people who'd spent the whole night out and others setting off to an early shift or returning from a late one.

He turned into the park, still keeping his head down.

It was darker here and somehow more ominous despite how open it was during the day. There was a young man sat on the bench he was aiming for, although Loki had no idea why one would be at a park so early.

The demigod sat down at the other end of the bench silently.

"You a cop?" The mortal said nervously.

That gave Loki at least a vague idea why the young man was in the park at such an hour. He shook his head.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

That seemed to satisfy the young mortal, at least for a few minutes. He kept glancing at Loki until he finally figured it out.

"You're-"

"Yes." He repeated.

The boy blinked a few times then stood up slowly, not taking his eyes off Loki. When he seemed fairly confident that the demigod wasn't going to stand up, he turned and ran until he was out of Loki's sight. If SHIELD didn't already know he was here, they would soon. No matter what his criminal intentions had been, no-one knowingly let a mass-murderer freely walk the streets of their city. No-one except Bruce Banner and Anthony Stark.

Loki suddenly realised he'd made a mistake.

No matter how noble his intent, that wasn't going to help if he was going to be shot on sight by at least one of Fury's lackeys. If the agents had been given any of Stark's specially developed bullets, which wouldn't have surprised him, he didn't have a chance. That meant if he stayed here in the open, he'd probably be killed very quickly. He should have stayed, if not in the Tower then at least in bed with Bruce. The scientist  _ had _ had to run before, as he'd pointed out. He would have known how to get away, at least for a little while. Maybe he still had a chance. If he left now, perhaps they wouldn't-

The sound of SHIELD aircraft hit his ears, barely perceptible to a mortal but so unbelievably obvious to Loki they may as well have not bothered with the 'advanced' technology.

The demigod sighed quietly. This was the bad luck he'd been used to back on Asgard, always in the wrong place at the wrong time, always realising his mistakes a second too late. And as they always did, his crimes had caught up with him all too fast. This time it would probably be more final. There was no Frigga here to demand he wasn't sentenced to death. Even if they couldn't find a way to kill him he doubted he'd see daylight or breathe what passed for fresh air in this god forsaken country any time soon.

The soldiers and agents reached the hill, a helicopter hovering above them. All of them had guns drawn and pointed at him. SHIELD weren't taking any chances this time, not after the last time they'd caught him. This was it.

Loki did his best not to look defiant like the last time, not wanting to be shot where it could be filmed and shown on television. He didn't want to hurt Bruce any more than he already had.

"Hands on your head!"


End file.
